Across the Universe
by BitterRenegade
Summary: "Yeah, well. I also remember beating you on every test and simulator." "By one or two points, maybe. Considering my age at the time that'd still make me better than you." "In your dreams, maybe. Anyways, I'm still the pilot. You're just the co-pilot." Follow Kimberly Kogan as she deals with being the Co-Pilot of Jeff 'Joker' Moreau. (Re-written version of Co-Pilot)
1. Prologue

_Author's Note: Looking back at Co-Pilot I realized that I could have written it so much better... and so I am rewriting the entire thing.  
_

_Enjoy, friends!_

_Summary: "Yeah, well. I also remember beating you on every test and simulator." "By one or two point's, maybe. Considering my age at the time that'd still make me better than you." "In your dreams, maybe. Anyways, I'm still the pilot. You're just the co-pilot." Follow Kimberly Kogan as she deals with being the Co-Pilot of Jeff 'Joker' Moreau._

_Warnings: OC's, language, Joker._

_Pairings: F!ShepxKaidan. _

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 1: Prologue  
~*~

For my first few years in the Alliance, I'd been assigned as the Co-Pilot on the SSV Tereshkova. It was a great ship with a fantastic crew. They gave me hours in Infiltrator training in the case I ever wanted to leave my position as co-pilot but that would never happen since I loved flying way too much to ever give it up.

Then news of Alliance Official, Damian Spryce's death came and my life changed.

At his funeral, his co-workers and friends had shown up as well as one other important person.

Sabrina Shepard, the woman I consider family and an N7 Sentinal. She raised me from when I was ten and we were both in the Reds on Earth. Damian picked us both up for auto theft and Sabrina convinced him to keep us off the streets. The man gave us both a home to stay in, our education, and became our legal guardian…just so we could enlist when we became of age. Sabrina kept in touch with me after she left, even after her failed mission on Akuze.

Looking back now, even if Sabrina was around, it was Damian who helped me have the life that I did. In his will, because we were the closest things he had to family he left us all his credits and property.

Then, I received an offer to be placed on a brand new ship with Sabrina.

The SSV Normandy, a prototype stealth reconnaissance frigate. Co-developed by the Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy and sponsored by the Citadel Council. Admiral Hackett was the one that gave me the offer, and Damian had always looked up to the admiral so I eagerly agreed. Besides, I'd also get to work closer to Sabrina. It was like a dream come true, being able to work with the only person who I thought of as family... now that Damian was gone. Not only that, but a prototype frigate! The very idea of working on it was exciting; Sabrina had even told me that only the best would be assigned to the Normandy. Maybe it was just a way of stealthily telling me how good she thought I was, but it certainly made working on the ship seem like an honor (which it would be, even if Sabrina had told me nothing).

The ship's captain was David Anderson. I'd met him on a few occasions when I was out with Damian. I'd always thought him to be a kind man, and I knew he'd worked with Sabrina before, as well. So of course I agreed, and as soon as the transfer paperwork had been filled out, I went to the ship to meet the crew, and more importantly, the pilot.

Stepping inside, I maintained a professional appearance on the outside regardless of my giddy feelings. Really, I couldn't wait to start! The Tereshkova was a great ship of course... but the Normandy already seemed hundreds of times better. The dim lighting was common for an Alliance frigate, and peering out from the airlock I could spot the unique CIC. Turian design, I figured, with the CO station at the back overlooking the rest of the crew. Man, working here was going to be pretty different from what I was used to. I took a step towards the CIC, quickly realizing that it would probably be a better idea to check out the cockpit and meet who I'd be working the most with first. Spinning around, I rushed into the cockpit with a cheerful grin. There were multiple control panels, the co-pilot's seat empty with the panel glowing green. The pilot was sitting in his seat tapping on the aerogel controls. For a brief moment I felt a wave of anxiety pass through me. What if the pilot thought I was too young and inexperienced? I'd had that problem when I first began working on the Tereshkova. While most began their training at eighteen, I had been enrolled in flight school three years earlier. That made me one of the youngest working pilot in the Alliance. It took a lot of work on the Tereshkova before anyone actually took me seriously, so I wouldn't exactly be surprised if that happened again here. Taking a deep breath, I approached the pilot determinedly, a smile on my face that instantly fell the moment I saw who I'd be working with.

Brown hair, green eyes... familiar face, except now he'd grown a bit of a beard. The pilot was none other than Jeff Moreau. My ex-rival from flight school. While he was at the top of our class, he had this way of looking down on everyone even before that happened. Since I was always second best, he had been especially hard on me; voicing whenever I made a mistake. Hell, I'd even tried to be nice to him back then, the only response he gave was 'stay out of my way'. The universe had a funny way of doing things I had to admit; eyeing him warily. I didn't know how time had affected him. For all I knew, he was still the jerk who thought he was better than everyone else.

And if he was still that way, I knew I'd have a lot of trouble working with him.

"Hello," I greeted, forcing a smile on my face. "I'm going to be your Co-Pilot. It's nice to see you again, Moreau."

He glanced up at me, squinting his green eyes with a twinge of recognition on his face. "…Kim, right? You're the girl that entered flight school three years early, right?"

Rolling my eyes and crossing my arms, I nodded at him. "Funny that's the only thing you remember," I commented. Inwardly I cringed, this wasn't exactly how I wanted this re-introduction to go.

Moreau looked away from me and back to the control panel. "Yeah, well. I also remember beating you on every test and simulator," he replied haughtily. His tone and disregard made anger bubble up in my chest, ready to burst.

"By one or two point's, maybe," I snapped. "Considering my age at the time that'd still make me better than you."

"In your dreams, maybe," He grinned. "Anyways, I'm still the pilot. You're just the co-pilot."

Taking my seat, I fumed silently. The only things that had changed about him since we had graduated were that now he smiled and talked a bit more. He was still a jerk.

"Hey CP, careful with the controls," Moreau warned. "We're going to have a Spectre on board, and we can't have you looking like you're about to kill the ship."

Closing my eyes, I took a few deep breaths before nodding. "Sure thing Flight Lieutenant," I forced out. God, this man got under my skin so easily that I felt ashamed. Silently I scolded myself, just because he was a jerk didn't mean that I shouldn't act professional and conceal my true feelings towards him. Maybe if I just treated him the way I treated everyone else, he'd treat me better too.

"That's Flight Lieatenant _Moreau, _CP."

My eye twitched.

I was going to hate this job.


	2. Eden Prime

_Summary: "Yeah, well. I also remember beating you on every test and simulator." "By one or two point's, maybe. Considering my age at the time that'd still make me better than you." "In your dreams, maybe. Anyways, I'm still the pilot. You're just the co-pilot." Follow Kimberly Kogan as she deals with being the Co-Pilot of Jeff 'Joker' Moreau._

_Warnings: OC's, language, Joker._

_Pairings: F!ShepxKaidan._

_Disclaimer: If I owned Bioware… Let's just say a few things would have ended differently._

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 2: Eden Prime  
~*~

"The Arcturus Prime relay is in range. Initiating transmission sequence," Joker called over the comm. Our controls flashed green; text telling us the TCP went through. "We are connected," the pilot continued, tapping a few buttons on the panel. "Calculating transit mass and destination," his brow furrowed for a moment. "Relay is hot. Acquiring approach vector." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Since we began flying he was determined to do practically everything. It was like team exercises in flight school all over again, with the 'stay out of my way'. Yeah, well, I was _not _going to just let that happen. I still had to do something! At least to prove that Hackett made the right call requesting to transfer me. While Joker worked on the approach vector, I quickly scanned my control panel to check that everything else was secure.

"All stations secure for transit," I told him, and he barely acknowledged me as he flew. The boards turned completely green as I rolled my eyes.

"Board is green. Approach run has begun," The Chief Helmsman continued, tapping a few buttons calmly. "Hitting the relay in 3…2…1…" The bright flash that erupted from the relay caused me to shut my eyes tightly. The ship's speed increased as the Relay blasted us into a new system, going so fast it was like when you were on an elevator and it was dropping so quickly that it made you feel like you were floating, or falling. It was never this bad on the Tereshkova, which was a far bigger ship than the Normandy. Hell though, I really did not enjoy this feeling. It was uncomfortable, and I could feel myself hold my breath just waiting for us to make it into the Exodus Cluster.

"Thrusters?" Joker asked me finally. My eyes snapped open and I shook off what remained of my unpleasant feelings. I could feel 'Flight Lieutenant Moreau' watching me as I hurriedly moved my hands across the aerogel to check on the thrusters. "Check!" I called, closing the screen.

"Navigation?" Joker continued. Man, now I knew he was just testing me to see if I actually knew my shit. Obviously I did, otherwise I wouldn't have graduated flight school right behind him on the scoreboards.

"Check," I responded, checking everything else he could ask me to check before he even had to ask. "Internal emissions sink engaged. All systems online," I finished, tapping a few more buttons and closing them as soon as they turned from orange to green on the board.

"Drift… Just under 1500 K," Joker stated, nodding towards the Turian Spectre standing behind us. Today we were going on a shakedown run to Eden Prime, the Citadel Council sending one of their Spectres to inspect our crew and the ship. Because the Normandy was built by both humans and Turians it only made sense to send a Turian to keep an eye on their investment considering that A) There were no human Spectres, and B) The crew was made up of humans.

Then again, having a Turian on board could work both ways. I'd never had anything against Turians, after all I was far too young during First Contact to remember much, but I knew that a lot of humans still didn't think too highly of them. Although in my opinion, the First Contact War was just a misunderstanding and both sides lost a lot... but some people just needed an excuse to be racist.

"1500 is good. Your captain would be pleased." Nihlus told us, giving what I could only guess was a Turian's version of a smile. Maybe it was just because I was a child at heart, but receiving praise from a Spectre... a Turian Spectre at that, practically made me glow with pride. I grinned back at him and nodded.

"Thank you!" I replied earnestly, Joker rolling his eyes. The pilot stayed silent until the Turian was out of earshot.

"I hate that guy," Joker grumbled, adjusting his Alliance issued hat. Sabrina was standing behind us (I wasn't sure how she wanted me to act towards her on duty, so I decided to play it safe and wait for her to talk to me first) and Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko was sitting at the control panel behind us, so I knew that the pilot wasn't talking to me. Not that he really talked to me since our admittedly poor re-introduction, except for the occasional request or order. Regardless, Alenko seemed like a really nice guy. I hadn't known him for very long, but our introduction was a lot better than Joker and I's.

Plus, he was pretty attractive. Short dark hair, gorgeous hazel eyes... and he was decently built and younger than most of the soldiers that worked on the Tereshkova. He wasn't my type or anything, but I could always appreciate the looks of someone that I could actually have a decent conversation with.

Kaidan sighed, giving Joker a withering look. "Nihlus gave you a compliment, so you hate him?" the soldier asked.

"You remember to zip up your jumpsuit on the way out of the bathroom? That's good." Joker scoffed stubbornly. "I-"

"We." I muttered to myself, highly doubting that the older man had heard me as he continued to rant at Kaidan.

"-just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead, so that's incredible," Joker stated, practically brimming with overconfidence as he spoke.

I rolled my eyes. Why was this guy the Chief helmsman again? Nihlus gave us a compliment, and he didn't have to do that... just take the compliment.

Joker turned his seat to face Alenko and Sabrina, expecting me to make sure the Normandy stayed on course. Not that I minded at all, since he'd barely let me do anything at all on this shakedown run. "Besides, Spectres are trouble. I don't like having him on board. Call me paranoid," the pilot shrugged.

"You're paranoid," Kaidan chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief. "The Council helped fund this project. They have a right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment."

My thoughts exactly.

"Yeah that is the official story. But only an idiot believes the official story," Joker argued, glancing at Sabrina for her opinion.

"They don't send Spectres on shakedown runs," Sabrina agreed, leaning against the back of my seat and smiling down at me.

"So there's more going on here than the Captain's letting on." Joker stated proudly, giving Kaidan a look that screamed 'I told you so'.

I smiled up at Sabrina. "Hey, when you find out what's going on… Tell me?" I asked hopefully, always loving to be kept in the loop.

"Sure thing, Keys." The older woman replied, using my nickname from when we ran with the Reds as children. The fond way she spoke to me let me know that she had no problem with me talking with her informally, which filled me with relief. I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to keep up formalities with her. She was my family, after all; my closest friend.

At that moment Anderson's voice rang over the comm. _**"Joker! Status Report,"**_he barked, surprising me.

"Just cleared the mass relay, Captain," Joker responded seriously. "Stealth systems engaged. Everything looks solid."

"_**Good. Find a comm buoy and link us into the network. I want mission reports relayed back to Alliance brass before we reach Eden Prime,"** _The captain ordered. Joker turned his head in my direction, signalling for me to begin. I frowned.

For some reason, I was starting to get the feeling that most of the jobs Joker was going to give me were the ones that he didn't want to do. Regardless, I turned back towards my control panel and began working.

Joker smirked, pleased. "Aye, aye, Captain. Better brace yourself sir. I think Nihlus is headed your way."

Oh dear, I sensed that saying that was _not_ a good idea.

"_**He's already here, Lieutenant."**_

I snorted out a laugh and held back my giggles while Anderson asked Joker to tell Sabrina to go to the comm room.

"You get that Commander?" Joker asked her, placing a hand on his forehead in embarrassment while Sabrina laughed along with me.

"He sounds angry," Kaidan noted. "Something must have gone wrong."

"Pfft. Captain always sounds like that when he's talking to me," Joker told us, his face still a little bit red.

"Can't possibly imagine why," The Lieutenant chuckled.

Sabrina patted my head. "I'll talk to you soon kiddo," she told me before leaving the cockpit. Sabrina now gone, I looked back at Alenko and smiled.

"I can make a few guesses if it helps," I told the biotic, continuing the previous conversation. My words clicking in his head, Kaidan grinned back at me.

"Well, I'll be sure to discuss it with you later." he replied. "Again, welcome onto the Normandy Flight Officer Kogan."

A warm feeling poured into my chest. Alenko was nice, and I liked him. "Thank you! It's a pleasure to be here," I responded cheerfully. It felt nice to be welcomed in a new place, especially since the guy I was working with most wasn't exactly welcoming.

Joker scowled, sending me a glare. "Yeah. Go do your job already, whatever that is."

Mood deflated, I sighed and returned to checking the screens, occasionally pressing a button. Kaidan gave Joker a disapproving look. "Joker..." he warned, the pilot ignoring him.

"It's ok Lieutenant Alenko," I spoke up, proud at how well I was hiding my hurt feelings. After all, Joker could say whatever he wanted to me.

Because really, Joker did most of the work.


	3. Post Eden Prime

_Summary: "Yeah, well. I also remember beating you on every test and simulator." "By one or two point's, maybe. Considering my age at the time that'd still make me better than you." "In your dreams, maybe. Anyways, I'm still the pilot. You're just the co-pilot." Follow Kimberly Kogan as she deals with being the Co-Pilot of Jeff 'Joker' Moreau._

_Author's Note: New chappie, guys. I'm actually so proud with how this chapter turned out. Finished playing ME3 today, so I thought I'd continue with rewriting Co-Pilot before moving on with the rest of the series. :) hope you all enjoy._

_Warnings: OC's, language, Joker._

_Pairings: F!ShepxKaidan._

_Disclaimer: If I owned Bioware… Let's just say a few things would have ended differently._

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 3: Post Eden Prime  
~*~

The mission on Eden Prime was a disaster.

I'd flown the shuttle down to the surface to pick the ground crew up, only to see Kaidan and some other girl (what happened to Jenkins?) carrying an unconscious Sabrina over their shoulders. Kaidan had told me what happened; he'd gotten too close to the beacon, Sabrina threw him out of the way and then it just... did something to her. All I knew by looking at her, broken and pale, almost lifeless... was that I had to haul ass back to the Normandy. A few crew members lingered around the shuttle bay, awaiting news on the Commander only to be roughly pushed aside by Kaidan and the pink armored soldier that joined us.

"Out of the way!" I bellowed, leaping from my controls and shoving past a few overly curious marines. One glance at the commander was all it took for them to step back and make room. Kaidan and the female soldier lugged Sabrina's unconscious form to the elevator

"Quick, we have to get her to Chakwas!" Kaidan barked, slamming his fist against the call button. A few crew-mates shoved by me to help with Sabrina, forcing me to the back just as the elevator arrived.

"Wait, let me through! Let me stay with Shepard!" I cried, ignored. Finally the sea of people subsided, revealing that the elevator had already left. My heart thudded almost painfully. Engineer Adams placed a comforting hand on my shoulder, grey-green eyes flickering with understanding.

"I'm sure the Commander is fine, Kogan," He voiced. "You should, ah, probably return to your station," Adams finished awkwardly. I nodded, tense and unhappy. I wasn't acting professionally, most people in the Alliance knew better than to let their emotions get the best of them. But Sabrina was my only family now, so seeing her like that... God, what happened on Eden Prime?

"Thanks Adams," I forced a grin onto my face. "I'll head back to the bridge."

The wait for the elevator to come back was excruciating. It felt like the others were staring, and I could vaguely hear their whispers as they gossiped about Sabrina and what was going on. Sabrina was unconscious. Jenkins was dead. Nihlus was dead.

Shit.

Nihlus was dead.

I stepped into the elevator alone, nobody wanting to go up with me. It made sense, I supposed. I was new, I was likely the youngest one on the ship. Not only that, but most knew that I was close with the Commander. Information spread across this ship like wildfire, obviously. Now on the second deck, I took a wary peek towards the med-bay. Kaidan was talking to the Captain. Anger was written across Anderson's face as the lieutenant spoke to him. The female soldier from before was standing nearby, blood dripping from her arm and to the floor. Sabrina was already in the med-bay, Chakwas working hurriedly...

Anderson glanced at me and instantly I scurried to where I was supposed to be. Even if Sabrina was family, I had to be professional. Adams said she was going to be fine. Sure, he wasn't a doctor, but Adams was smart. And I didn't want to get in trouble this soon on a new ship for not doing what I was supposed to do.

...Even if Joker didn't really let me do much.

My stomach clenched uncomfortably as I returned to the bridge. Joker turned to glance at me for a second before returning his attention to the control panel. I sat down in the co-pilot's seat. Stood up. Sat down. Stood up again. Sat down again. Checked my omni-tool

Jesus, I didn't have any focus.

I opened my mouth. "Is there anything I can-"

"No," Joker shot. I winced. Glanced over my shoulder to the dimly lit CIC. Captain Anderson was there now, talking to Pressly. What were they talking about? I hoped Sabrina was okay. I looked over at Joker.

"So... if there's nothing I can do..."

"Well, you can always be quiet."

I flinched, shrinking back. That's when the anger began to bubble in my belly. "I'm sorry, I'm just a bit anxious. Sabrina's family, and she's in the med-bay," I snapped. "So I'm a bit anxious."

Joker's green orbs met my brown ones with the tiniest bit of amusement shining in them. "You said that you were anxious already."

I scoffed. "Sorry," I spat sarcastically.

"You apologize a lot more than I remember, Kogan," Joker noted. He returned his gaze to the console in front of him.

"You're talking more than I remember," I shot back. The silence sank in after that. Joker didn't respond. The anger I previously felt simmered down to nothing. Then the worry came back. Slowly, clenching around my heart. Was Sabrina okay? What was wrong? What happened?

I stood up. Sat down. Stood up again. Sat down again. Checked my omni-tool.

An hour later and only after my tenth check of my omni-tool did Joker finally snap.

"Go check on her already, will you?! You're worrying so loud that it's beginning to make me worried." He told me "You can barely do your job as it is. So go and help Chakwas or something. I won't file a complaint or anything if you do."

"...Really?" I asked, uncertain. Telling me to check on Sabrina was probably the nicest thing Joker had done since I'd arrived.

"Well, yeah," Joker grumbled. "You're distracting me with all your anxious habits."

It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. "Thanks so much," I hurriedly told him; shooting out from my seat and dashing towards the staircase by the CIC. Kaidan was walking up the stairs just as I was rushing down.

"Kim coming through! I'm sorry! Gotta check on Sabrina!" I told him, almost knocking him over in the process. The lieutenant simply smiled and shook his head at my childish antics before continuing on his way. Barrelling through the Med-Bay doors, I looked back and forth between Chakwas and the Commander "Dr. Chakwas! Is she okay?!"

The older woman looked me over with amusement in her pale green eyes, nodding. "She's stable. She'll be making a full recovery," Chakwas confirmed, slaying all of my worries.

Instantly a wave of relief came over me, and I felt myself begin to calm down.

"Is it okay if I stay here until she wakes up?" I asked her. "Joker said I could help you out since I was worrying so much-"

"Oh of course Kim, of course," Dr. Chakwas laughed. "Could you give this medi-gel to the female soldier outside though? It'll only take a second, but I need to keep an eye on the Commander just in case."

Taking the medi-gel from the doctor, I nodded. "Sure thing Doc," I replied. It was amazing how much better I felt now, knowing for sure that Sabrina would be fine. Stepping out into the Mess Hall, I looked around to see if I could spot anyone new. The woman from Eden Prime was talking to Captain Anderson not too far away from the Med-Bay, so I walked towards them carefully, hoping not to interrupt "Um, hello?" I held out the medi-gel "Dr. Chakwas asked me to give this to you. Hello Captain," I greeted. The woman took the medicine and moved to shake my hand.

"Thank you. I'm Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, nice to meet you," Ashley greeted. She seemed like a hard worker.

"Williams is going to be working on the Normandy from now on," Anderson told me with a smile, before becoming serious. "So, Flight Officer... Mind telling me why you aren't with Joker in the cockpit?"

I gulped, nervous. "I was so worried about Sabri- I mean, Commander Shepard, that I was practically tearing the cockpit apart," I responded honestly. "So Joker told me to help Dr. Chakwas in the Med-Bay. I apologize for my actions, Captain," I finished, saluting.

The Captain nodded at me in understanding. He knew how close I was to Sabrina, and he had read my psych profile. Anderson had likely guessed that I wouldn't react very well to Sabrina getting hurt. "At ease, Officer Kogan," Anderson ordered. I lowered my hand. "Well, alright then. Be sure to let me know as soon as the Commander is awake."

"Yes Sir!" Ashley and I saluted. Anderson headed towards his quarters, leaving Ashley and I in the mess hall. The captain now gone, I grinned at the dark haired soldier.

"I'm Kim, by the way. Flight Officer Kimberly Kogan," I told her, scratching the back of my head. "Or just the Co-Pilot, I guess. So… It's nice to meet you Williams."

Ashley smiled at me and shrugged "It's nice to feel welcomed. Please, you can call me Ashley if you want. At least when our CO's aren't around."

Nodding enthusiastically, I agreed. "Sure! And you can call me Kim, then," I glanced in the direction of the Med-Bay. "I'll be in the Med-Bay for now if you need anything, but most of the time you'll be able to find me in the cockpit if you just want to hang out or… something," I shrugged. "Sorry if I'm speaking a bit too informally," I apologized. "A lot of the people I worked with before, on the Tereshkova... well, they didn't mind it."

"I don't mind it, and I'm getting the feeling that I'm not the only new member in the crew…" Ashley noted, a small smile gracing her lips.

I snickered. "Yeah. I've only recently been transferred to this ship," I told Ashley. "The pilot, Jeff Moreau... but everyone calls him Joker. He doesn't really like me that much," A sigh escaped my lips. "I think he's upset that the Alliance thinks he needs help piloting the Normandy."

"Can't see why he doesn't like you. Maybe he just doesn't want to admit to needing the help," Ashley grinned at me and I grinned back. A few other marines entered the mess hall, causing Ashley to check her omni-tool. "I'll see you later, Kim. You should probably get back to the Med-Bay."

"Oh, right!" I exclaimed, rushing away. "See you later Ash!"

Chakwas looked up at me as I returned. "Ah, welcome back. I won't need much help honestly, Officer Kogan," the doctor told me. "But you're welcome to stay here until the Commander wakes up."

"Thanks so much Dr. Chakwas," I voiced sincerely. "Would you happen to know what happened to Sabrina?" I asked her, stumbling over my words almost instantly. "I mean Shepard, the Commander... uh..." my face burned with embarrassment, Chakwas smiling.

"It's quite alright Officer Kogan. The Commander mentioned that the two of you grew up together," Chakwas told me. "And according to Dr. Cameron Weiss, you were absolutely horrid with formalities on the Tereshkova. He sent me a note, saying that you'd start calling me Karen by the end of your first week."

I grinned awkwardly. "Yeah, I was still pretty young when I started working on the Tereshkova... None of them really tried too hard to get me to follow protocol. At least with the way I talk."

Dr. Chakwas shrugged. "Personally, I don't mind it at all. It's nice to have someone around that'll talk to us like we're regular people and not Alliance personnel."

"That's what Cam said!" I exclaimed. "But is there anything that I can do while I'm here though? I don't want to just sit around doing nothing."

Chakwas looked up thoughtfully. "Well, you could always do inventory."

I shrugged, getting to work. Hours passed, Karin giving me odd jobs to do. Occasionally she'd send Joker and Anderson an update on what I was doing so that they would know I was actually doing work. Fifteen hours after Sabrina had entered the Med-Bay did she start to wake up.

"I'll go tell Anderson," I told Karin. I passed Kaidan on my way to the Captain's quarters, the biotic lieutenant heading towards the Med-Bay to check on Sabrina himself. My fist knocked on Anderson's door, the Captain opening it to grant me access. I saluted. "Captain, Sabrina's..." I paused. "Shepard's waking up," I corrected. The Captain nodding at me.

"Kogan, I'm going to talk to you off the record here for a moment," the Captain stood up. I nodded, lowering my hand to my side. "Kim, now... I know that you're close with Shepard. She's told me about your past, I've read your personnel file and your psych evaluations. Damian spoke to me about you on a few occasions and I have reports from your old crew and old instructors," Anderson told me.

My throat tightened. "So... What's up, Captain? Off the record."

Anderson shook his head. "People like you, Kim. And you like people. You genuinely care for the people you work with, sometimes too much. And that's not a bad thing, it's far from it in fact," he sighed. "Joker is the opposite. He pushes people away. Apparently you were the only one in the Academy that worked well with him. Why do you think this is?"

I looked down. "Because I wouldn't let him push me around...?"

The Captain chuckled. "According to your instructors, you were determined to be his friend."

"I was young and naive, sir," I told him, rolling my eyes. "But what exactly are you trying to tell me?"

"Regardless of what he wants to believe, he does have to work with you. He might say he's the best damn helmsman in the Alliance, but you were right behind him on those scoreboards. Even though Sabrina's family to you, your work with Joker comes first," Anderson explained. "But it won't work if you let your emotions get the best of you, it won't work if you let him push you away. Focus on the job, Officer Kogan," he finished firmly. I shrank a bit, discouraged. I shouldn't have let myself get so worried about Sabrina.

"Yes, Sir," I nodded, trying to keep the hurt out of my voice. At that, Anderson placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"I know, Kim. I know. And I'm not mad at you for worrying about Sabrina, but I want this crew to be the best. I could care less about how you speak with others, or if you call them by name instead of rank. But I need you to prove to Joker that he needs you, ok?"

"Ok," I agreed. "Should I return to the bridge?"

Anderson nodded. "Set a course for the Citadel, Flight Officer."

"Sure thing," I replied. Leaving his quarters, I stepped towards the staircase that led to the CIC. My boots clacked against the metal floor, voices echoing behind me as I walked to the cockpit. I allowed my eyes to linger on the galaxy map for a moment before speeding up to return to work. Joker didn't look at me when I took my seat next to him, setting a course for the Citadel.

"Anderson wants us to go to the Citadel," I explained. "FTL jump from the Lowas Relay to the Serpent Nebula."

"I could've done that," Joker told me, shooting me an annoyed look.

"Yeah, but I did it. So what?" I retorted. "It's not like I'm unable to help out here. I am your co-pilot, after all."

Joker let out a grunt of acknowledgement, glaring out the window to the vast expanse of space.

"Hey, Joker?" I spoke up once more, awkward and shy.

"What?" he snapped, cold and uncaring.

"Thanks... for letting me check on Sabrina. It meant a lot," I told him earnestly.

He didn't respond.


	4. A Visit to the Citadel

_Summary: "Yeah, well. I also remember beating you on every test and simulator." "By one or two point's, maybe. Considering my age at the time that'd still make me better than you." "In your dreams, maybe. Anyways, I'm still the pilot. You're just the co-pilot." Follow Kimberly Kogan as she deals with being the Co-Pilot of Jeff 'Joker' Moreau._

_Warnings: OC's, language, Joker._

_Pairings: F!ShepxKaidan._

_Disclaimer: Do not own, wish I did._

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 4: A Visit to the Citadel  
~*~

The heavy beat of footsteps was enough for me to turn around, wondering who was heading to the cockpit. Seeing that it was Sabrina, fully conscious and not looking near-dead was more than enough to make me the happiest girl in space.

At least until Joker opened his mouth.

"Good timing Commander I-"

"We…" I muttered quietly. My comment was once again ignored by the older man who I was sure had to have an ego bigger than a Krogan to consistently act like he was the only one that did anything on the bridge.

"-was just about to bring us into the Citadel. See that taxpayer money at work," Joker told Sabrina, tilting his head in her direction. At the same time, Alenko and Ashley walked in behind Sabrina with awe shining on their faces as they gazed out of the long rectangular windows to check out the Citadel. I had to admit, it was quite a site. Each arm of the station was covered in thousands of lights like an alien-made mini galaxy. For me looking at the Citadel was like looking at a perfect fairy-tale city; a city surrounded by stars and clouds and big ass beautiful ships.

I whistled at the Destiny Ascension as it came into view, Ashley placing a hand on my shoulder and pointing at it's gorgeous hull.

"Look at the size of that ship!" Ashley exclaimed. I turned my head to grin up at her and nodded my agreement.

"The Destiny Ascension. It's the flagship of the Citadel fleet. Four times bigger than the biggest human vessel," I remarked. Kaidan nodded along as I gushed over the dreadnought. "It has a crew of nearly ten thousand, built by the Asari…" I sighed dreamily as finished listing the facts.

"I'm guessing you've never seen it before, Williams?" Kaidan asked the female soldier, to which she shook her head.

"Never, well, only on the extranet," the pony-tailed brunette soldier confirmed. On her face was an expression matching my dreamy one as she commented further, "Wow its huge!"

Getting annoyed by our fangirling, Joker spoke up. "Well, size isn't everything," the pilot grumbled, obviously preferring the Normandy.

"Why so touchy, Joker?" Ashley teased.

"I'm just saying you need firepower too," Joker huffed, causing Sabrina to chuckle at his weak counterargument.

"Look at that monster!" I argued loudly. Green eyes glared at me, causing me to glare back. Joker's arguments were invalid as I knew without a doubt that the Destiny Ascension would best the SSV Normandy in everything but speed and maybe maneuverability.

Ashley was on my side, joining the argument without hesitation. "I'd bet its main gun could rip through the barriers on any ship in the Alliance fleet," she exclaimed, to which I nodded, ready to support her as she supported me.

"You're right about that," I told her. "It has just as much firepower as the rest of the Asari fleet combined. That's a lot of firepower."

"Good thing it's on our side, then," Kaidan stated, and I nodded my agreement. Fighting against that thing would be a pain in the ass with a 99% chance of us getting completely and utterly destroyed. Regardless, Joker looked about ready to get into a heated debate with Ashley and I, but one look from Sabrina told the grump to stand down.

"Whatever," Joker scoffed, raising his hands in mock defeat before hunching over his control panel.

I _really_ needed to learn how to imitate Sabrina's expressions. If I could shut him up with a single look, I wouldn't need to worry about a thing. Sadly, I had neither rank or size against the pilot.

Joker tapped the comm button with a pale finger, ready to contact Citadel Control so we could dock. "Citadel Control, this is SSV Normandy requesting permission to land," he spoke clearly and calmly, as if completely forgetting about our almost-debate.

A female voice rang over our comm. "_**Stand by for clearance, Normandy."**_

Giving the Destiny Ascension one last look, I sighed. "Asari sure do know how to build nice ships," I voiced dreamily, slowly returning my attention to my control panel.

"_**Clearance granted. You may begin your approach, transferring you to an Alliance operator."**_

Kaidan looked at me questioningly. "Oh? Not too fond of the Human-made ships then I'm guessing? What about the Normandy?"

"Hey, I love this ship," I snapped. "Probably because Turian's helped make it. And they make nice ships too. Hmm…" Pausing momentarily, I nodded at Kaidan "I will let you know once I've seen a Salarian ship. Until then, I am perfectly fine with Human ships."

"Oh boy," Ashley laughed. "Keep an eye on this one Joker, next thing we know she'll be transferring to a Krogan vessel."

Joker scoffed, rolling his eyes, uncaring. "I'll pay her to do that."

A tense silence followed that, my gut clenching. Sabrina looked between the two of us, a small frown on her face. I could sense that she wanted to say something, and I inwardly prayed that she would. _Tell him to deal with me, ask him to be a bit nicer. I know I'm not the easiest to deal with, but he's fucking impossible help me please. _

Sadly, just as she opened her mouth a male voice came over the comm, breaking the silence instead.

"_**Normandy this is Alliance tower. Please proceed to dock 422."**_

"Roger Alliance Tower. Normandy out," Joker voiced, turning our comm off as the Normandy entered the docking bay. The air felt heavy around me, and I was certain that the others could feel it too. I spotted Ashley giving Kaidan an uneasy look, knowing that maybe she joked about the wrong thing. The three of us didn't really know what to do, but luckily Sabrina did.

"Ashley, Kaidan, wait for me outside. I'll be there in a few minutes," she told them in her commander voice. It was the one that left no room for argument, and considering the tense atmosphere that everyone would want to leave, they hurried out as quickly as they could to the decontamination chamber.

Knowing that this could be my chance to leave too, I stood up and faced Sabrina. "So… We're on the Citadel," I voiced softly, not wanting to stay on the ship for much longer.

"Yes, we are," Sabrina confirmed. She crossed her arms, and I knew that she was annoyed. Maybe it was at me, or it was at Joker... or maybe both of us.

I gulped. "Can I go with you into the Citadel?" I asked her. Sabrina looked away from me uneasily.

"You'd need the Captain's permission," the dark skinned commander told me. "I'm not sure if you'd be allowed."

Grinning, I waved her comment off. "Oh, Anderson doesn't need to know…"

But of course, the Captain had to hear that.

"I don't need to know what?"

Sabrina and I jumped in surprise at the Captain's voice, both of us turning to look at him nervously. We looked like two kids caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar, even though technically neither of us had done anything wrong.

"Nothing, nothing…" I told him. Quickly I gazed up at Sabrina hopefully, as she sighed and turned to face Anderson.

"Is it alright if Flight Officer Kogan accompanies us onto the Citadel, Sir?" Sabrina asked him for me, knowing that she'd be more likely to get the approval.

Sighing dramatically, Anderson responded. "I suppose…"

I beamed, Joker shooting me a glance. "Thank you sir," I told him with a salute as he turned around and headed to the decontamination chamber.

The moment the doors closed and he was out of earshot I whooped. "Yes! Haha!"

"Oh you." Sabrina sighed. "Come on, let's go."

Joker now forgotten, I squealed and wrapped my thin arms around Sabrina's torso. "Love you Sabs. This is going to be so. Much. Fun."

"This isn't for fun Kim, this is important," Sabrina chided, patting me lightly on the back before gently pulling away.

"With me around? We'll see. We'll see." I smirked "I'll find all the fun places."

Joker rolled his eyes at me "Bring back some snacks then. Alliance rations kind of get… boring after a while."

At the sound of his voice my mood immediately darkened. "Sure thing," I replied stiffly, following Sabrina out. Now inside the decontamination chamber, Sabrina awkwardly spoke up.

"Is everything going alright between the two of you?" she asked me. I sighed.

"Anderson wants me to get along with him, and I will," I told my dearest friend seriously. "It's just tough right now, I don't know how to act around him... Whenever we're around each other we act more like the kids we were in flight school instead of Alliance pilots," I continued with a tinge of sadness. "It's like... I want to get along with him, but then he makes me so... so... I don't know. Don't worry Sabrina, I can deal with it."

A comforting hand rested on my shoulder, Sabrina flashing me a smile that disappeared just as the Normandy's doors slid open to reveal Kaidan and Ashley. My new female friend smiled at me, Kaidan looking off to the side awkwardly. "OK people, lets head to the Citadel Tower," Sabrina barked in her commander voice. "Kim, feel free to look around... You probably won't be allowed to see the Council with us considering you weren't part of the ground team."

I nodded understandingly, although I still felt a pang of disappointment that I wouldn't get to spend extra time with Sabrina. "Should I meet up with you later then?" I asked. Sabrina gave a nod of her own in response.

"I'll send you an omni-message when we're done. Try to stay in more populated areas," the dark skinned commander suggested, "and keep an eye on your credit chit."

She was worried about me, Sabrina always worried about me. But I knew where she was coming from... even if the Citadel was like a whole new world, I highly doubted that it was different from the slums back on Earth. I smiled brightly, rubbing the back of my head childishly in a way that always seemed to reassure Sabrina. "Don't worry Mom, I'll stay out of trouble."

Crossing her arms, Sabrina let out a short laugh. "Watch your mouth, Flight Officer. We'll see you soon."

As soon as we parted ways I couldn't help but grin, checking a map on my omni-tool.

Time to find the fun places.


	5. Tali

_Summary: "Yeah, well. I also remember beating you on every test and simulator." "By one or two point's, maybe. Considering my age at the time that'd still make me better than you." "In your dreams, maybe. Anyways, I'm still the pilot. You're just the co-pilot." Follow Kimberly Kogan as she deals with being the Co-Pilot of Jeff 'Joker' Moreau._

_Warnings: OC's, language, Joker._

_Pairings: F!ShepxKaidan._

_Disclaimer: Do not own, wish I did._

_Man it's been awhile since I updated! However, whenever I get PM's from readers I always work a bit harder. Thanks for sticking around guys!_

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 5: Tali  
~*~

What amazed me most about the Citadel was how much diversity there was. As I walked through the brightly lit station, I saw many different races – which was an experience I'd never really gotten when I'd lived on Earth or when I was training in the Alliance. Asari, Turians, Salarians, Volus, Hanar… Elcor?!

I couldn't keep the awe off my face, and I was glad that nobody from the Normandy could see how ecstatic I was about just getting to see aliens up close. A permanent grin was stuck on my face as I practically skipped through the marketplace. Unfortunately, my excitement also kept me from paying close attention to my surroundings, and I soon found myself barreling into a purple blur and tumbling to the floor.

"Keelah, I'm so sorry!" a soft, interestingly accented female voice cried. Looking up, I let out an awkward laugh as I stared straight into the mask of a quarian. "Are you alright?" the stranger asked me, holding out a three-fingered gloved hand to help me up. I quickly took it, pushing myself off the ground and onto my feet.

"No I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings," I told her, my voice a slightly higher pitch than normal. "Wow, I've met a quarian!" I gushed. "My life is complete, so sorry for crashing into you, but it's really nice to meet you!"

While I couldn't see her expression, I could sense that my starry eyed reaction surprised the quarian girl. I'd read that most of the Citadel races didn't look too kindly upon quarian's, but the extranet also had many articles sympathizing with the nomadic race. "Wow I… I haven't had many react to me that way," she exclaimed, taking my hands in equal awe and childish delight. "My name is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, it's nice to meet you also."

"I'm Kim, Kimberly Kogan," I replied with a Cheshire grin. Glancing around, I noticed most of the other people in our vicinity were giving the two of us odd looks. The quarian girl I'd crashed into couldn't be the only one of her kind on the Citadel, but I figured it would be safer for her if she had someone with her. My smile slowly fading, I tilted my head to the side and lowered my voice. "Tali, are you here alone?" I asked worriedly. Sabrina had been worried about me walking around alone, and I could only imagine how much worse it would be for someone whose race was so discriminated against.

Tali took a step away from me, rubbing her arm awkwardly as the people that were staring at us before returned to their business. "No, I'm not."

Total. Lie.

I grinned, shrugging. "Well, um, do you want to walk together? I have some questions about quarians and to be honest this is my first time on the Citadel and I'm waiting for my sister to message me."

Uncertainly, Tali looked to the side. She didn't know if she could trust me, I could understand that. After all, I was just some girl that had crashed into her that she'd never met before and now I was basically asking if she wanted to hang out with me as I nerded over her race.

"And you don't need to worry or anything, I'm an Alliance pilot, totally harmless," I shrugged. "You could probably take me down in a fist fight too. I'm pretty wimpy compared to some of the other crew members!"

Tali's head snapped back in my direction, the white lights that I assumed were her eyes widening. "You're part of the Alliance?"

I shifted, now kind of uncomfortable myself. "Yeah, I'm a Flight Officer," I explained, fumbling for my omni-tool and bringing up my identification. "See? Totally legit."

"Oh, it's not that I didn't believe you or anything," Tali assured. "You just don't really look like a pilot. Oh Keelah! That didn't come out right," she rambled. If I could see her face, I was sure that she'd be quite red. Well, unless quarians turned a different color when they got embarrassed. Maybe they didn't blush at all?

"Really, I just want to help," I told her in a whisper. "No offense, but I don't think that a lone quarian would be treated fairly on the Citadel."

Tali continued to seem tense, but she finally nodded. "Well, I suppose we could walk together. For a little bit at least."

I absolutely beamed with joy. "Awesome! So, where are you headed?" I asked her, the two of us beginning to walk down a staircase to the lower markets. "I don't really have any destination mapped out for myself exactly. But earlier I was searching the extranet and this place called Choras Den had a lot of good reviews."

"I was actually planning on going there myself," Tali stated cautiously. "You act rather carefree for someone in the military," my new companion assessed. I shrugged.

"I'm still young," was my rather weak explanation, but it seemed to satisfy the quarian; this was likely because she herself couldn't have been any older than me. "And, well, I'm just a pilot. I don't see all the same things that other soldiers do."

"Don't get me wrong, it's refreshing to meet someone like you," Tali told me honestly. "Most military are a lot less… open."

I took her compliment to heart, and would be lying if I said I didn't feel at least a little bit proud. "Thank you very much Tali."

Tali nodded. "When we get to Choras Den though, I'll need a bit of time alone."

"Not a problem, just don't ditch me there without saying goodbye," I replied easily. Tali nodded again, and we soon found ourselves inside the club. Asari danced all over the dimly lit club, and I felt a blush reach my cheeks seeing all the guys leering at them. "Please don't leave me here Tali. I'm leaving when you do."

Sensing my discomfort, Tali placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. "I'll meet you at the bar once I'm done my business here."

"Thanks Tali, you're the best," I told her with a sigh of relief. The two of us separated, Tali talking to a Krogan closer to the back of the club while I sat down at the bar. A human bartender with short orange hair and an outfit similar to the asari dancers smiled at me.

"Hey, I'm Jenna. Want anything to drink?" she asked me, friendly. That was expected of course though, if a bartender wasn't hired for looks it was because of their people skills.

Not that Jenna wasn't a good looking girl, she really was. Just not really my type.

I grinned at her. "Water please."

"You sure I can't get you anything stronger?" she questioned me. I guessed that not a lot of people came to Choras Den for water.

"Rather not. Just waiting on a friend," I explained. She nodded.

"One water then, coming right up," Jenna told me with a charming grin. She turned away from me and reached for a glass. I opened up my omni-tool to send Sabrina an update on my location so she wouldn't worry-

"Flight Officer Kogan!" Kaidan greeted, placing a hand on my head and smiling down at me. I scowled up at him and shook his hand off. "Sorry," the man apologized sheepishly.

Another hand was placed on my head, and turning I was able to see it was Sabrina, smirking. "Don't worry about it Lieutenant. Flight Officer Kogan here knows that she has that little sister quality that inspires us to do this."

"Sabrina…." I warned.

"Also she's short," Sabrina stated. I scoffed, shaking her off while Ashley and Kaidan attempted to hide their amusement. They were not doing a great job.

"I'm five foot three," I responded darkly. "Not that short. Shorter than the rest of you, sure, but not exactly the definition of short."

"Is someone pouty because the bartender refused to serve her alcohol?" the commander teased. I rolled my eyes.

"Actually, I'm not here to drink. What are you doing here?" I asked. Sabrina smiled.

"Trying to get some information," Sabrina replied. "Have you seen any C-sec officers around here?"

I raised my eyebrow. "Sabs, I don't exactly want to look around this place. I'm kind of limiting my attention to the bottles of alcohol and the bartenders."

Ashley snorted. "I don't blame her, there's some pretty creepy people hanging around here."

"Well, we'll see you later then," Sabrina sighed. "We're looking for some more evidence against Saren. Oh, and if you see some dead bodies laying around outside…"

Jenna placed the glass of water in front of me and I gave her a small nod before turning back to my military friends. "Tell me, how long did it take for Sarendippity-doo to send assassins after you?"

"About twenty minutes," Shepard shrugged.

"Hmm, not bad," I noted. A short silence came between the four of us before Sabrina awkwardly spoke up.

"…I should go," Sabrina finally said. I nodded my head, looking back at my glass of water and continuing my wait for Tali. Once I'd finished my glass, my Quarian friend approached.

"How'd your business go?" I asked her with a smile.

"I'm supposed to meet someone else in a nearby alleyway in about an hour and a half," she told me. "I'd appreciate sticking with you until then."

"Hour and a half… Galactic standard time?" I questioned. Tali nodded. I began doing the math in my head.

That's 150 minutes, and each minute consists of 100 seconds, but all the seconds were half as long as a human second… so like, 50 seconds.

"Ug, my head hurts," I groaned. "My brain only uses human time, I might need to leave a bit earlier depending on when my commanding officers are done their business here."

"That's fine," Tali replied. "Is there anywhere that you needed to go?"

"Well, I told my lieutenant that I'd grab some real food to snack on while we're travelling… Are you hungry? Maybe we can find a shop that sells dextro based foods too," I shrugged.

"That sounds nice, actually," the quarian girl responded, a little surprised by my willingness to go out of my way to find a place where she could get food too. Quickly, I opened up the Citadel map on my omni-tool and did a quick search.

"There's a small snack shop near here actually… Oh look! Dextro-Amino Friendly products available. Let's go!" I cheered, taking one last look at the map before walking off in the direction of the shop. We were supposed to go through an alley to get to it, it was sort of tucked away. I sighed as I saw a few dead bodies outside the club, but my quarian companion paid them no mind. As we walked through the alleyway, Tali stopped me.

"This is where I'm supposed to meet with… someone," Tali commented. I glanced around.

"Don't you think it's kind of weird that you're meeting someone in a place like this?" I asked her seriously. "I mean, look at it. It's not that well lit, there's barely any cover if it turns into a shootout… Well, I guess there's always those crates over there," I pointed. "Better than nothing, but other than that it's a clear shot if you run in the direction of any door."

"I can take care of myself," Tali told me. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Yeah, okay, but I'm just saying that I hope these people you're meeting aren't like…. Assassins or bounty hunters or something. I know that the two of us don't really know each other all that well, but I'd certainly feel horrible if anything happened to you. Heck, we've been hanging together for over an hour now and already you're my girl crush."

"G-girl crush?" Tali stuttered. I giggled.

"Relax Tali, I'm just kidding around. Let's go get some food!" I cheered, practically skipping ahead of my quarian companion. We got to the shop in a little under five minutes.

A sign glowed above it, "Fausso Foods".

I pushed open the doors to be greeted by a slightly run down but still incredibly well stocked shop. The shelves were all on the walls, the chit reader on a counter in the center of the store. A turian woman stood behind the counter, purple paint on her face and an expression that I guessed was a Turian version of a smile. "Welcome! Anything I can help the two of you with?" she asked. I smiled back at her, Tali standing beside me now.

"Can you point my friend here in the direction of the dextro-based foods? Oh, and do you have any Earth imports?"

The Turian nodded, pointing to the right side of the store which I noted had purple flooring while the other side was green. "Purple side is dextro-friendly, green is levo-friendly," she explained. "Earth imports are in the back corner."

"Thank you," I nodded, walking to the back corner while Tali stood at the front awkwardly. "Grab whatever you want Tali, my treat," I told her. She nodded and headed over to the dextro side. Scanning the shelves, I inwardly swooned at what they had available. I hadn't seen an actual can of Pringles since I lived on Earth. Looking up in thought, I felt a bit conflicted before finally pressing the call button on my omni-tool. Joker popped up in hologram form and I managed a small smile. "Hi."

"_What's up CP?" _he asked, sounding incredibly bored.

"I'm getting snacks like you asked," I replied. "But I don't know what you like. They have a good selection of Earth imports," I told him, pulling up a container and reading the name. "Like… Chips Ahoy. And Pringles. Oh, and they have some candy here too… Um, Airheads?"

"_I didn't know they named a candy after you," _the pilot commented. I gave him a puzzled expression.

"Huh?"

And then it clicked in.

"Wow, nice one Flight Lieutenant," I grumbled. "Hilarious. It's so funny that I just can't even laugh."

''_Thanks,"_ Joker smirked. _"Anyways, I'm not picky. As long as it's real food it should be fine."_

"Kay," I dropped the call and grabbed a couple Pringles, some cookies, chocolate, Airheads, and reached above me to grab something from the top shelf. When I saw what they were, I smirked. And then I started laughing evilly. Tali and the storekeeper watched me with equal amounts of unease and worry before I realized what I'd been doing and stopped. Taking two little boxes, I carried my snacks to the counter. The storekeeper picked up the box I'd been cackling over and chuckled.

"Ah, excellent choice," the turian stated. I grinned sheepishly, Tali coming over with a simple dextro paste. "Will this be all for you?"

"You sure you don't want anything else Tali?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.

"No, no, this is fine," she answered. I shrugged at her before turning back at the storekeeper.

"That's all," I nodded. The turian nodded back, neatly organizing the food into a plastic bag while I tapped my credit chit and paid.

"Please come again!" the turian beamed at us, handing me the bag. I dug through the bag for Tali's dextro paste and handed it to her as we exited the store.

"Sorry if my cackling embarrassed you," I awkwardly apologized. Tali giggled a bit and shook her head.

"It's fine. Did you have anything else you wanted to do? We still have a lot of time," Tali noted, checking the time on her omni-tool.

I shrugged. "Want to just walk around the wards? This is my first time on the Citadel after all… I'd love to look around!

So we walked. Really, the entire layout of the Citadel felt like a maze to me. Then we got to the restaurant section of the wards, and there was a giant clear glass window where we could see a fishtank floor, filled with fish. It was part of a restaurant called Ryuusei's Sushi Bar.

"That place looks awesome!" I gushed. Tali admired the fish from behind me as I childishly ran up to the window. A waiter gave me a disapproving look, and I took a few steps back.

"They'd never let me in," Tali sighed dreamily. "But one day, when I've proved my worth to the galaxy, I'll go there for dinner."

"I'll go with you," I decided. "We'll drink to your worth."

A peaceful silence came over us before Tali replied. "It's a promise then."

We stayed there for a little longer, with me making funny faces at the waiters that gave Tali and I dirty looks before she had to head back to the alley.

"I'll walk you there," I told her. "Want me to stick with you? It is a pretty dark and scary alleyway!"

I could sense a bit of uncertainty coming off of Tali before she nodded. "No harm in having back up."

We entered the alley and saw a turian with two armored salarian guards. I gulped. Yep, it was probably a trap. Tali slowed her pace and turned her head slightly to look at me. "Do you have a weapon?" she questioned me. I shook my head, no. She nodded.

"When I give the signal, dive behind those boxes you were pointing at earlier."

Inwardly I hated on myself for offering to be back up when I didn't even have a weapon on me. I stood slightly behind Tali, stopping when she did.

"Did you bring it?" the turian asked. His face paint looked frightening.

"Where's the Shadow Broker? Where's Fist?" Tali asked them, voice completely calm. I glared at the turian as he ran his talon down Tali's side.

"They'll be here, where's the evidence?" the turian pressed. Tali slapped his arm away.

"No way. The deals off."

The turian stepped back. Tali threw something at the two Salarians.

"Now!" she shouted at me, the two of us running for cover. She pulled out her gun and fired a few shots. But then all our attackers went down thanks to some unknown force. I peeked out from me and Tali's cover and grinned when I saw who'd helped us.

"Didn't I tell you to stay out of trouble?" Sabrina scolded me, holstering her gun. A Turian and a Krogan stood behind her now instead of Kaidan and Ashley. I shrugged, rubbing the back of my head.

"Sorry Sabs."


	6. Challenges

_Summary: "Yeah, well. I also remember beating you on every test and simulator." "By one or two point's, maybe. Considering my age at the time that'd still make me better than you." "In your dreams, maybe. Anyways, I'm still the pilot. You're just the co-pilot." Follow Kimberly Kogan as she deals with being the Co-Pilot of Jeff 'Joker' Moreau._

_Warnings: OC's, language, Joker._

_Pairings: F!ShepxKaidan._

_Disclaimer: Do not own, wish I did._

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 6: Challenges  
~*~

After my little adventure, Sabrina ordered me to back to the ship because she wouldn't be able to keep an eye on me. Though, she did allow me to tag along with them to the Human Embassy. Having me there with them actually helped a bit, since I was able to vouch for Tali when she requested to come with us.

Sadly, that still wasn't enough to get Sabrina to take me with her and Tali to see the Council.

"You're going back to the ship," she told me, turning to look at the turian. "Garrus, can you go with her and make sure that no one else tries to kill her?"

"In my defense, they were after Tali. Not me," I argued, cutting the turian off. Sabrina glared at me.

"You're going back, and that's an order Flight Officer," the Commander stated. I crossed my arms. She crossed her arms. We glared at each other for a good minute before I gave up.

Throwing my hands in the air, I turned away. "Fine, fine. I'll go back to the ship with my new babysitter. But hey, I'm pretty sure that we don't have that much dextro-friendly food onboard so do I have your permission to get that organized with Garrus? We don't want our new companions to starve."

Sabrina pursed her lips. "Fine. The two of you can get a lasting supply. But then right after that, you go to the ship. Tali, Wrex, let's go."

Garrus and I watched the three of them leave the embassy. Once the doors closed behind them, I looked up at my new alien companion.

"Hi, I'm Kim," I introduced myself. He nodded.

"Garrus Vakarian," he responded, sounding very serious. "I know a food supplier in C-sec for Turian ships. We can go see him."

I nodded, and followed the Turian out. Then I scurried back in, picked up my snack bag that was sitting by the door and had to jog to catch up to Garrus. He towered over me at 6'2", a whole foot taller! So when I did catch up I had to keep my pace quick to keep up with him.

He glanced down at me, seemingly noticing our differing height, and slowed down. "Shepard mentioned that you have a tendency to wander off if left alone."

"What?! Out of all the things she could have told you about me, she told you that. Wow, thanks Sabrina," I grumbled. A low chuckle erupted from Garrus. It sounded kind of like a rumble, with a bit of a cat purr sound from his throat. Man, aliens were cool. "Let's get something straight here. I don't wander. I have an excellent sense of direction. And if Sabrina tells you that she can drive a mako, don't believe her."

"Noted," Garrus nodded.

"Oh, and if she starts dancing prepare to run away," I stated. "Hmph. I don't wander," I growled to myself. The turian beside me chuckled, amused by how irritated I was. The two of us didn't attempt to strike up another conversation after that one died, and I stuck close by (mostly to prove that I didn't wander) as he spoke to a supplier. Not long after that, I led Garrus to the Normandy.

"Nice ship," Garrus approved. I beamed at him.

"It's pretty great," I replied. "Can I ask where you'll be staying?"

"I'll probably head down to the storage deck. There's probably less crew there," Garrus's mandibles fluttered a bit. "And I can check out the mako. See how much damage Shepard's done to it, if she's as bad a driver as you say."

I snickered. "Well, she hasn't gotten to it yet. Maybe you can reinforce it somehow," I joked. The two of us entered the decontamination chamber.

Garrus looked up thoughtfully. "I'll see what I can do."

"Just know that whatever you do, it won't be enough," I sighed dramatically.

_Decontamination complete._

The two of us entered the ship and I pointed Garrus in the direction of the stairs that led to the lift. I liked to think that we'd ended on friendly terms even though we hadn't spoken that much. All the aliens on the ship were really going to liven the place up! And I just couldn't wait for Tali to come back with Shepard. She was most likely going to be my alien BFF.

And my girl crush.

When I entered the cockpit I inwardly cackled by the fact that Joker hadn't noticed me. For a moment, I contemplated snatching his hat… But he'd probably reprimand me if I did that, so instead I poked his shoulder. He jumped slightly, then turned his head to shoot me an annoyed look.

"Hi," I greeted with a grin. I held up the bag of snacks I'd gotten so he could see. "I brought snacks."

His annoyance seemed to melt away, and a small smile appeared on his face as he turned his seat towards me. "Thanks."

I smirked devilishly. "I also thought up a challenge for you."

Joker gazed at me skeptically. "Should I be worried CP?"

"Maybe," I beamed, pulling out a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans from the bag. "Remember those old Harry Potter movies? And the jelly beans with the gross flavors?"

"You have got to be kidding me," Joker took the package from me to read the back of the box, looking just a little bit amused. "Wow, this is really disgusting CP. Earwax? Dirt? Vomit? Why'd you even get these?"

I pulled out the second box and shook it. "I just thought it'd be a fun thing for us to do together, you know? One box each, we can guess what flavour we're going to have and such, and we can quit whenever we want. Each correct flavor guess gives a point, each bean eaten is another point." I took a step back and leaned against the wall.

"What do I get if I win?" the pilot questioned me, leaning forward with a competitive glint in his eyes.

I shrugged. "Well, you choose. If I win, then…" I looked up thoughtfully for a moment before deciding. "If I win, you're taking me for dinner next time we're on the Citadel. Oh, and I get to wear your hat for a whole galactic day."

"Trying to solicit a date out of me?" Joker teased. "That's against Alliance regulations."

"What?! No way Moreau!" I exclaimed, my face reddening drastically, due to both embarrassment and anger.

Joker leaned back. "Sorry CP, you're not my type," he chuckled. "But sure. If you win, you can wear my hat for a day and we'll grab a bite to eat. Just try not to admire me too much."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't worry, I won't be," I grumbled.

"But if I win, then you're going to have to pay for dinner. And… you have to do whatever I say for a whole day," Joker decided. I crossed my arms.

"That seems a bit more than me wearing your hat for a day," I noted. Joker smirked.

"What, you think I'm going to beat you then? Maybe this'll turn out just like flight school," he goaded. The two of us eyed each other, feeling a familiar competitive fire. "So, are we going to do this or not?"

"You're on," I opened my box of beans. "You're keeping count, don't cheat."

"Never had to before."

"Ha. Ha," I moved and sat down in my co-pilot's seat.

We both pulled out our first beans. Mine was yellow with brownish specks, Joker's was red. We scrutinized them, then looked over the listed flavors.

"I think mine's like, vomit flavored," I popped it into my mouth and scrunched up my face. I swallowed with difficulty.

"Vomit?"

"Nope. Banana."

Joker let out a short laugh. "And that's your reaction to one of the normal flavors? There's no way I'm going to lose," the pilot boasted. "I think this one'll be cherry." He guessed, taking a bite then shrugging. "Cinnamon. Guess we're tied."

"For now, but soon I'll win!" I announced. Joker shook his head, adjusting his hat as the two of us continued the game. Whenever we got gross flavors we tried to one-up each other with our reactions. And honestly… it was fun. A lot of fun. Heck, halfway through my box I'd ALMOST stopped caring about our wager. Almost.

Except I really wanted to win.

"If this one isn't soap I'm going to be surprised," Joker stated, holding up a white jellybean. I held up my own, it was an off-white.

"Ug. Earwax again," I groaned.

"You giving up?"

"Never!"

We both ate the beans and gagged. As we did that, Captain Anderson entered the cockpit.

"Oh, hey Captain," Joker greeted, the two of us instantly straightening up. The captain in turn smiled at us, amusement in his eyes.

"Sir," I welcomed. The captain shook his head.

"At ease, you two. Do I want to ask what you were doing?" Anderson questioned. I innocently held up my box of every flavor beans. The captain raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. "Regardless, I just came to let you and the rest of the crew know that Shepard's going to be the new captain of this vessel, say my goodbyes."

"Wait, what?!" I blurted. "But, what about you?"

"I'm stepping down," Anderson explained. "I'll be remaining on the Citadel while Shepard hunts Saren as the first human Spectre."

"Wow, okay. My heads exploding," I voiced, mostly to myself. The Captain, no, ex-Captain, chuckled as I registered what he'd just told me. Shaking off my shock, I stood up from my seat and saluted Anderson. "It was an honor working with you Sir, even if it wasn't for very long."

"The feeling's mutual Officer Kogan. I know the two of you will keep up the good work," he told us with a glimmer of pride. "Well, I'm off then. Shepard should be back in an hour, and I should be packed up by then."

Once he'd left, I sighed and returned to my seat. "Did the Council just… demote Captain Anderson?"

"Seems like. Man, that sucks," Joker took off his hat and ran his hand through his incredibly short hair. "It sucks when it's our people that get screwed over by alien politics."

I silently agreed, closing my box of beans. "You still feeling up to our little contest?"

"Nah," Joker tossed his hat to me. "Guess you win then."

"We could just call it a tie," I suggested after a bit of contemplation. If I was going to get Joker to at least like me, I'd have to make compromises. "We both don't really feel like eating gross jellybeans anymore," I explained when the pilot glanced at me questioningly. "Except you'll only get half a day of me doing whatever you say since I did get more points than you. And we'll both pay for dinner."

"Deal."


	7. Brittle Bones

_Summary: "Yeah, well. I also remember beating you on every test and simulator." "By one or two point's, maybe. Considering my age at the time that'd still make me better than you." "In your dreams, maybe. Anyways, I'm still the pilot. You're just the co-pilot." Follow Kimberly Kogan as she deals with being the Co-Pilot of Jeff 'Joker' Moreau._

_Warnings: OC's, language, Joker._

_Pairings: F!ShepxKaidan._

_Disclaimer: I sadly do not, and likely never will own Bioware or Mass Effect._

_Remember that reviews and PM's are like candy! And I love candy! _

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 7: Brittle Bones  
~*~

Joker was tired. I could tell, heck, I didn't think he'd slept at all since we'd flown to Eden Prime, and that was at least a day ago (Earth days). We were on our way to the Artemis Tau Cluster, specifically the planet Therum, and that'd take a few more hours. I'd at least taken a few naps here and there, so I wasn't rubbing sleep out of my eyes like he was doing.

"Want me to take over?" I asked him. He shot me a glare.

"I'm fine. Just let me do my job, Flight Officer."

"Well, let me know if you need a break," I offered. "Want me to go grab you some coffee?"

His green eyes relaxed for a moment and he nodded. "Yeah, sure. Thanks CP."

Standing up (and now proudly wearing his hat) I headed out of the cockpit and towards the stairs that led to the Mess Hall. When I arrived there, I was happy to see Sabrina's teammates all there eating and such. Tali was sitting with Garrus, the Krogan was leaning against a nearby pillar, and Kaiden and Ashley sitting across from the aliens. "Hey guys!" I greeted.

Ash's eyes honed in on my/Joker's hat that was sitting oh so elegantly on my head. "Nice hat," the soldier commented with a smirk dancing on her lips. "Is it Jokers?"

"Thank you, and yes it is," I bowed theatrically. "I won the rights to wear it for the day thanks to my epic ability to handle gross tasting jelly beans."

Tali giggled at that. "You're so weird, Kim."

I beamed at that. "Thanks Tali, I know." I glanced around, noting that Sabrina wasn't here with her new team. "Where's Sabrina?"

"Shepard's on her way," Kaiden answered. "Taking a break?"

"Nah, just grabbing some coffee for Joker," I replied. "But if it's cool with him I'll come back here and hang for a bit."

"Yeah, we're all just getting to know each other better," Ash told me. "I'd love to hear about what Shepard was like back on Earth."

I smirked mischievously. "I'll be sure to tell you about all the embarrassing things she did-"

"Don't even think about it," Sabrina warned me, walking over. "If you do, I'll tell them about all of your embarrassing mishaps."

"Sorry guys, you'll get nothing out of me," I shrugged. There was too much risk involved if I did tell them. "So… how do I get coffee here?" I questioned the group.

Kaiden stood up to help me, the gentleman, and led me to the kitchen. It was small, and spotless. There was a fridge, and a counter with a stove and other appliances.

"Wow, this kitchen looks like it's barely been used," I noted. Kaiden shrugged.

"The food dispensers give decent enough food, and most people don't really buy fresh ingredients in case someone else takes them. The coffee dispenser's over there though. Disposable cups are in the drawer."

"This poor, underused kitchen," I sighed, taking out a disposable cup and a lid and pressing the button on the dispenser. "It's basically just a coffee room."

"At least there's coffee. If we didn't have that, then half the crew would riot," Kaiden joked. I snickered at his comment, clicking on the add cream and sugar button before placing the lid on the cup.

"Guess I'm heading back up to the cockpit again," I sighed. "Thanks again Kaiden."

"Not a problem Kogan," the lieutenant kindly replied, and the two of us headed back to the table that everyone else was still sitting at.

"I'll see you guys later," I told the group. Tali gave me a wave of her hand, the others voicing their farewells as I walked away, coffee in hand. Heading back to the cockpit was uneventful, and I was kind of glad that none of the crew had decided to stop me for a chat. I quieted my footsteps on the metal flooring, but opted against sneaking up on my Lieutenant this time. He was grouchy enough.

"I'm back," I called, handing Joker his coffee. "Sabrina's gathered all of her ground crew in the mess hall. They're quite a sight."

"Why do you always call the Commander by her first name?" Joker asked me bluntly. I tilted my head to the side, a tad bit confused. He took a sip of his coffee.

"You don't know why? I figured everyone on the ship knew why."

The scruffy pilot gazed at me expectantly. "Well I don't, so tell me."

I moved to my seat and sat myself down. "Well, the two of us grew up together."

"What? Really?" Joker gaped. "Where? How? I read that Shepard used to be in a gang, was that how you guys met?"

"Yeah, we were originally in a gang together," I told Joker. "Honestly, the earliest thing I could remember was being in that gang. Sabrina was in charge of training me, taking care of me and stuff. Eventually she got out and took me with her, and by some stroke of luck we were both taken in by a higher up in the Alliance."

"Admiral Spryce, right? I remember him at our graduation," the pilot noted. "I'm surprised he took you two in, he never struck me as the kind of man to take care of a couple of kids. Especially ones on the street."

"You'd be surprised!" I laughed. "I think he always wanted to have kids of his own, he always treated me well. Made sure I ate healthy, Sabrina too. We stayed with him together for about two years, then Sabrina enlisted and he pulled strings to get me into flight school early," I looked up, feeling a bit nostalgic. Damian was incredibly good to the two of us, we'd really lucked out. "He was a great man. But yeah, I've just known Sabrina for so long that it feels weird to call her 'Commander' or 'Shepard'. I mean, she's practically my sister."

"That's actually kind of cool," Joker commented. "Guess you have one epic background huh?"

"It's not as awesome as Sabrina's, but I'm pretty happy with how my life has turned out so far," I drawled, checking the time of arrival on my aero-gel screen. "So, can I ask why you never really leave the cockpit?"

"Really? You don't know why I don't?" he raised an eyebrow.

I shrugged. "Well I noticed you on crutches and stuff back in flight school but didn't really ask around you know? I just thought you gave someone attitude and they broke your legs or something."

"Yeah, that's not even close to the truth CP," he grumbled. I stared him down and Joker threw his hands in the air in defeat. "Okay, fine. I've got Vrolic's Syndrome, brittle bone disease," he admitted. "Basically the bones in my legs never developed properly, they're basically hollow. Too much force and they'll shatter."

"Oh my god," I breathed, wide eyed. Joker looked away, expression cold and unreadable.

"Even with crutches and leg braces it's hard to get around. One wrong step and CRACK! It's very dramatic, but I've learned to manage my condition Flight Officer," the pilot began tapping a few buttons on his control panel. "And that's why I never really leave the cockpit. Unless I need to use the washroom or get some food, I stay here. Safer on the legs."

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he scowled.

"Well, now I know."

"Yeah. Now you know."

We were both silent for a few moments, until I spoke up.

"You cool if I make jokes about it?" I asked him sheepishly. He turned to look at me, puzzled.

"What?"

I grinned and scratched the back of my head. "You know, like 'no wonder you're a good pilot. Your bones are just like a birds… hollow. Ba dum ch.'"

The smallest of smiles appeared on Joker's face at that. "Really CP?"

"Well, it's not like me knowing this has changed my opinion of you," I explained bluntly. "You're still a good pilot-"

"Good?" he scoffed.

"That's the best you'll get from me," I continued grudgingly. "Anyways, yeah. You're a good pilot, you still really grate on my nerves sometimes-"

"I feel the same way-"

"Yeah well at least I'm trying to get along with you!" I snapped. "Jesus man! Let me finish!"

Joker shook his head, smile far bigger now. "Go ahead."

"Thank you!" I took a deep breath. "I don't know how you expected me to act around you after your 'epic confession', but I'll tell you this! One of these days I'm going to prove to you that I'm just as good as you are and then you're going to have to let me do more around here!" I boasted. The older pilot seemed amused, and he tapped a few buttons on control panel.

"Fine, you win. I'm going to rest for a bit, so you can take the controls until we get to Therum. But I'm going to stay right here in this chair," he told me. "You know, so you don't crash the ship."

If it weren't for the fact that he was actually letting me fly the ship, I probably would have made a snide remark. Instead I nearly clapped with delight, unable to keep the glee from my face like a child at Christmas. "Thank you, thank you!" I tapped my control panel, watched them flicker beautiful shades of blue and green, and then began flying.

There really was no better feeling than flying the Normandy.


	8. Therum

_Summary: "Yeah, well. I also remember beating you on every test and simulator." "By one or two point's, maybe. Considering my age at the time that'd still make me better than you." "In your dreams, maybe. Anyways, I'm still the pilot. You're just the co-pilot." Follow Kimberly Kogan as she deals with being the Co-Pilot of Jeff 'Joker' Moreau._

_Warnings: OC's, language, Joker._

_Pairings: F!ShepxKaidan._

_Disclaimer: I sadly do not, and likely never will own Bioware or Mass Effect._

_EVERYONE GO WATCH THE NEW MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA TRAILER! It's given me a huge rush of creativity, and, it's inspired me to throw another story into my Co-Pilot Series. Now we have Across the Universe(ME1), Drops of Jupiter(ME2), All of the Stars(ME3), and now…. SUPERNOVA (ME:A)_

_Also this story is now on AO3! Same username, same story title. A few minor edits in the earlier chapters. I would have also posted this chapter sooner, but I was waiting on my beta. In the end, this chapter did not get beta'd. Hope it's decent enough!_

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 8: Therum  
~*~

Once we neared Therum I returned the controls to Joker. He'd occasionally awoken during his nap to check up on me, and I was thankful that he was kind enough to mostly leave me alone and let me fly.

And I flew without incident.

Joker hadn't even been surprised by that. Even though he liked to tease me about my incompetence, he still knew I was a great pilot. Not that he'd ever admit to it. If Anderson had been here, he would have been so proud of my progress!

_I_ was proud of my progress. Extremely proud, if I was being honest. I never thought that I'd be able to get along with Joker this well. Before, if the two of us were stuck in the cockpit together there wasn't much else but sullen silence. I liked to think that we had a better understanding of each other now, and that had really brightened up the cockpit.

Or maybe I was still feeling as high as a kite thanks to him actually letting me _fly_.

"Hey CP, you okay? Your face has been stuck in a smile since I let you fly," Joker commented. I promptly slapped the smile right off my face. Joker laughed at that. "Weirdo."

"Thank you," I responded, checking my screens and preparing the Mako Release button. "Dropping Mako in 3… 2… 1…" I opened up one of the cameras to make sure they were off the ship and nodded to myself. "Closing cargo bay doors. Hey Sabs, can you tell me who's driving?"

"_Garrus_," the commander replied.

"The universe is safe," I teased. Sabrina scoffed.

"_I'm not that bad of a driver_."

I held back a laugh at the amount of bitterness dripping off her words. "There's a reason why you didn't go to flight school Sabs. You're better off with guns."

"_Normandy, we've hit the ground_," Sabrina told us, choosing to ignore my comment. "_I'll radio you guys once we're ready to get picked up_."

I yawned, stretching my arms into the air before returning my hands to the aero-gel. Bringing up the planet readings, my eyes widened slightly. "Hey Joker, check this out," I forwarded the readings to his screen. He adjusted his newly returned hat, green eyes scanning the readings and soon checking a few other tabs on his screen. "Crazy right?" I asked him. He nodded and turned on his mic.

"Hey Commander? CP picked up some strange readings. Really strange. Like, off the damn charts," the pilot explained. He opened up a map and lined it up with the readings. "It looks like it's coming from an underground complex a few klicks from away from the drop zone."

"_Thanks for telling us guys_," Sabrina responded.

"Minor spike in the primary core," Joker told me and I quickly got to work, flipping open tabs and pressing buttons at a decent speed.

"Compensating! Compensating!" I lowered the sub core's power by just a bit. The scruffy pilot nodded in approval.

"That fixed it." He noted, turning to give me a smirk. "Not bad CP. A little slow though."

I childishly stuck my tongue out. "It was only a _minor_ spike Flight Lieutenant."

Joker rolled his eyes. "So, what's the plan next time we go to the Citadel CP?" he asked me. I felt a bit taken aback, I hadn't been entirely sure that we were actually going to do that. Or that he'd want to, even.

"Well, what kind of food do you like?" I asked him. "Oh, and choose your answer carefully, because I will judge you if it's gross," I told him with a wink. He smiled at that.

"You know what I haven't had in forever? A cheeseburger."

I nodded in understanding. "Hard to get actual cow meat away from Earth. But what I'm really missing is pizza. That's what I call culinary magic," I sighed. Lack of delicious food was one of the things I disliked about military life. It was also one of the things I missed about living on earth.

Sure, some alien food was okay. But I was born and raised on human foods so in my opinion, meat from an earth cow beat space cow meat any day and every day.

"Man I'd almost forgotten pizza. Let's get that," Joker decided. I readily agreed. Who could say no to pizza?

"I'll find a place that has good ingredients. Maybe one that doesn't have Asari anchovies," I shrugged. Joker turned to glance at me.

"Those exist?"

My shoulders shrugged once more. "I don't know… but I wouldn't be surprised. Hey, if an Asari ate calamari… would that be cannibalism?"

Joker froze for a moment. "I don't think that an Asari is a squid…."

"But, their head thingies…" I argued, pouting a bit. "You have to admit, it would be a bit weird."

We both contemplated it, equal expressions of discomfort on our faces. Finally, Joker broke the silence. "Yeah, it's kind of weird CP. Why'd you start thinking about that anyways?" He asked, an accusing look in his eyes.

"I was thinking about seafood and Asari okay?!" I snapped, cheeks reddening in embarrassment. Joker seemed a bit surprised by my reaction and looked away awkwardly.

"Sorry CP, didn't mean anything by it."

We both worked in silence after that, Joker flying the ship while I constantly checked the systems. It wasn't as tense as I expected it to be, but it was a little bit uncomfortable. I opted to pay closer attention to the ships readings. Therum was a hot planet, and we really didn't want anything to overheat. Or melt. We were a good distance away from the planet's surface so I wasn't really worried about it at all, but you could never be too careful.

Especially with people on the planet, perhaps needing a pick up any minute. And knowing Sabrina's luck, it was likely that she'd put the Normandy in at least a little danger. She was lucky she had such competent pilots.

I glanced over at Joker, who now seemed pretty relaxed. "Sorry for snapping at you Moreau," I apologized, feeling a bit awkward.

He glanced over at me. "Nah, it's no big deal."

"Okay."

"Except the title's _Flight Leauitenent _Moreau," the older man joked, a smirk on his face. I scoffed in response, the two of us falling into a comfortable silence after that.

Yeah, Anderson would have been very proud of our progress.

Joker let out a loud yawn and turned his chair to face me. "So, what's so bad about Shepard driving a Mako?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you really, truly want me to answer that?"

"What, do I need to redeem my half-day of you doing whatever I say for you to answer that question?"

I shook my head. "No, but Sabrina said that if I ever told anyone stories about when we were younger, then she'd tell everyone all the embarrassing things I did."

Joker rolled his eyes. "It can't be that bad. I listen in to the crew's gossip every now and then."

My jaw dropped. "Joker! That's horrible! That's an abuse of power!"

"Would it help if I told you a tidbit of gossip related to you?" the pilot innocently asked. I looked up in thought. I'd like to hear some gossip about me, I mean, kind of. If it was nice. But the thought of Joker creepily listening in to the camera footage was just wrong. "Well?"

Okay, I needed to know. "Tell me."

"Word on the street is that both you and Shepard are trying to pursue a relationship with our resident Staff Leauitenent." My jaw dropped. I totally did not expect that. Joker laughed at my reaction. "Yeah, by the look on your face I'm guessing that it's not true."

"I mean, he's cute and nice but he's not really my type. And he's in his thirties!" I gaped. "I mean, I guess he's still younger than some of the other guys on the crew and age doesn't matter if there's love, but I'm almost 100 percent sure that there's only like between us."

"Too big of an age gap for you CP?"

If I had long hair I would have flipped it over my shoulder as dramatically as possible. Instead I flipped my short, soft dark brown locks and gave the flight officer my most serious expression. "I'm twenty-five, Flight Leauitenent. Until I hit thirty myself, age matters to me."

"So you want a twenty-something year old guy with abs and nice hair I'm guessing?"

I nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yeah, that sounds great. Preferably blonde, no beard. Abs are always nice."

"Blue eyes?" Joker added, amused. This was fun.

"Meh, I'm a sucker for green eyes," I replied nonchalantly. "Blondes with green eyes? Win! But then I'm also cool with the opposite side of the spectrum. Tanned, dark hair and dark eyes. Ooh, and an accent!"

"You're surprisingly picky," Joker noted. I shook my head, a grin on my face.

"Nah, I'm just kidding around. Anyone's fine, as long as we mesh well. Oh, but the guy definitely gets more points if he calls me 'lass'," I decided.

Joker raised an eyebrow. "Points?"

"There's a points system Joker! Relationship points!"

He opened his mouth to respond but was cut off my Sabrina's voice, sounding a bit frazzled over the comm. "_Joker? Joker come in! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double mister!_"

And like that, we went from playful banter to focused work.

"There's two of us here Sabrina!" I growled loudly, my hands gliding over the aerogel controls effortlessly to speed up the tracking process. "And we're already airborne! Just hold your horses."

"CP, is it locked in?" Joker questioned me, eyes now glued to his screen as his fingers danced across his controls.

I nodded in his direction. "Got it, let's go."

"ETA's 8 minutes Shepard," Joker told her.

My eyes scanned over her location and I resisted to urge to face palm. "Okay, going to need steady hands when we get there Moreau. Shepard's basically coming out of a volcano. The heat readings are critical."

"Gotta trust Shepard to put everyone in a life threatening situation," the pilot commented. "Okay, we're going to stay as far away from the heat for as long as possible. Surface isn't exactly stable either"

I nodded. "Yeah, agreed."

We flew in determined silence, me checking all the systems to make sure they were as good as they could be before we had to save Sabrina.

From a volcano.

"_Hope you guys are out there!" _Sabrina shouted over the comm.

"Lowering the ship," Joker told me.

I let out a heavy sigh. "Cue ship warnings in three, two…"

"_**Warning, Heat Hazard. Warning, Heat Hazard."**_

Joker was flabbergasted. "How'd you even do that?"

"I'm fucking magical, that's how."

"_**Warning. Possible volcanic eruption. Warning."**_

"If we go any lower we're going to melt off the bottom of the ship!" Joker barked. I continued to press my controls, trying my best to silence the warnings. "CP! Talk to me!"

I turned on my comm. "Sabrina, how close are you?"

"_Almost there!_"

"Lower it now!" I ordered Joker.

He listened, lowering the ship with speed and precision that I was honestly not sure that I could match.

"_We're in!_" Sabrina shouted over the comm. "_Move! Move!_"

Joker pulled the ship up as fast as possible, just as molten sulfer began to spill out of the surface of the ground. Once we were a safe distance away from the ruins which were now covered in lava, I breathed out a sigh of relief. "That was way too close for comfort."

Joker tilted his head in my direction. "Tell me about it." He reached up and fixed his hat, which had become a bit lopsided because of the chaos. "That was either dumb luck or perfect timing."

"Both," I replied. Joker nodded. "You listened, when I asked you to lower the ship," I realized, turning my seat to face him. I was surprised, and just a little bit amazed.

"You knew what you were doing," he shrugged it off. Like it was nothing. I actually felt a bit bashful now, I mean… he listened to me. And I was the co-pilot. I was the co-pilot that he didn't even want, and he listened to me in a life threatening, dangerous situation.

Then it all clicked.

I grinned goofily. "You're starting to like me, aren't you Moreau?"

Immediately he got defensive, straightening up in his chair and frowning. "What? No way."

"That's why you're actually listening to me, and talking to me, and doing stupid shit like eating gross jelly beans! You like me!" I exclaimed, clapping my hands together.

The pilot glared at me, displeased. "You're crazy."

"It doesn't even matter that you're making that face, I know the truth now! Jeff Moreau no longer hates me" I stood up and bowed. "Thank you, thank you! Oh, I've got to send Riley and Aedan an Omni-message about this. They're going to be so amused," I stated, opening up my omni-tool and stepping behind Moreau's chair, scrolling through my contacts.

Joker turned his chair to face me, eying me carefully.

"Quit it CP," Joker warned, but I could see just the teeniest bit of amusement underneath his cold exterior.

"My flight school friends need to know. Come on Moreau! Do you know how many times you pushed away my olive branch of friendship back then?"

"I'm pushing it away right now."

I stuck out my tongue. "You want to be friends with me Joker, you're just in denial."

"Whatever you say CP."

Sabrina's voice came over the comm. _"Hey you guys, getting the team together in the comm room."_

I glanced over at Joker mischievously. "So, how much shit are we going to give Sabrina for cutting it so close?"

Joker smirked. "Do you even have to ask?"


	9. Nicknames

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 9: Nicknames  
~*~

Joker and I watched the cameras, making sure that Sabrina had gathered everyone in the conference room before we turned on our comms.

I started. "Hey Shep, that was too close!"

"Yeah, ten more seconds and we would have been swimming in molten sulphur. The Normandy isn't equipped to land in exploding volcanoes. They tend to fry our sensors and melt our hull," Joker added, sarcasm dripping off of every word.

"You know, just for future reference Shep," I finished. The asari that Sabrina picked up frowned, which was noticeable on our cameras.

"_We almost died out there and your pilots are making jokes?"_ the asari asked, sounding irritated.

Oh no she did not.

I could feel the rage bubble in my chest, intense and hot. Like lava, like that lava that could have killed **all** of us and not just _her_.

I muted my comm.

"Oh she thinks that they're the only ones that almost died?! Bitch do you WANT to fight me?" I roared. "How do you think it feels being in charge of not only the lives of everyone on this ship, but _your _blue ass?!"

Joker's jaw dropped. "Uhh…"

The Asari's eyes shot up to look into the camera, flabbergasted. "_Excuse me?_"

…Fuck.

There was a sinking feeling in my belly, dread filling in my chest. I was so, so dumb.

Joker muted his mic while Sabrina attempted to salvage the situation. I could see over the camera that everyone was either horrified or incredibly amused. Wrex was laughing in his seat, Ashley was trying her hardest to hold back her laughter. Garrus's jaw was hanging open to reveal plenty of his sharp teeth while Kaiden looked noticeably concerned. Tali had a hand on her shaking head, and Sabrina…

Well, I knew that even if she did agree with me I would get a stern talking to.

I hid my face in my hands, feeling the heat coming off my cheeks. Why hadn't I asked Moreau to mute his mic? I felt so embarrassed. It was like I lost Joker as an enemy and gained a new one right after. But I couldn't help myself, the tone she used… It was like everyone forgot about the pilots. Like she forgot about all the crew that was on this ship when we flew down to save her. So many lives could have been lost, not just hers. Not just Sabrina, or Garrus, or Wrex.

Sure, I was horrified that she heard me. But I did not feel bad that I said it.

…Okay maybe I felt a little bit bad for saying it. We all still had some tension from the near death situation after all. But I was not going to apologize!

Unless Sabrina made me.

"Well, I hope I never pissed you off that much CP," Joker commented.

"No Moreau. You did not," I responded, voice slightly muffled by my hands. "Kill me now. Please Moreau? Anything's better than Sabrina scolding me. It'll make me feel guiltier than I already do."

"Nah, it's not that big of a deal," Moreau shrugged. "I mean, I get where you were coming from at least. It's not like they were the only ones that nearly died. And I know how emotional you get, I just didn't know that rage was one of your emotions. Irritation? Sure. But man, that was scary. Never thought I'd see you flip out like that."

I felt ashamed. "I'm sorry."

"Pssfft. You apologize too much. Cheer up CP," he told me. He turned his comm on as everyone left the conference room. "Hey Commander, the mission report's filed. Want us to patch you through to the Council?"

"_Yes, and let Officer Kogan know that I'll be coming to talk to her in a few minutes."_

I let out a whine, curling up in my seat.

I was doomed. Doomed!

"Setting the link up now. And don't be too hard on her Shepard, I think she feels bad enough already."

"_We'll see, Joker. I make no promises."_

I could see a flicker of light through the dark abyss my negative feelings had trapped me in. There was now the possibility that Sabrina wouldn't scold me as harshly as she normally would, and if I didn't get in too much trouble then I would pay for Joker's pizza when we went to the Citadel next. I stared at him, tears beginning to pool into my eyes but there was now a hopeful grin on my face. He turned, and started laughing.

"Sorry CP, it's just… you look so happy," he said between laughs.

"You asked Sabrina to go easy on me. You're the greatest," I exclaimed

Joker smiled. "Sometimes you remind me of a little kid CP."

I stuck out my tongue.

"Yup, there it is. You're like a grade schooler," the pilot snickered. "I have no idea why no one on the Tereshkova wrote you up for your behavioral issues."

"I act my age when the situation warrants it," I told him. "Come on! Do you really think I'd be goofing off when we're doing something important?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just messing with you. Hey, you know you never ended up telling me why Shepard can't drive a mako," he noted. Joker glanced at his screen as something flashed up. Then, a grin snuck up onto his face. "Communications cut, Commander," he said into his comm with a small chuckle.

I blinked.

"Did Sabrina just… hang up on the Council?"

"That she did CP."

I broke out into laughter. "Oh my god, she has no patience for politicians! Bravest Spectre: Sabrina Shepard. Hands down."

Sabrina stepped into the cockpit, standing over my seat and messing up my hair. "You know it Keys. And since hanging up on the Council is considerably worse than you accidently insulting someone over the comm in front of about…" she looked up in thought, counting. "…like, eight people," she shrugged. "Well, you're not in trouble. Just make sure that next time you're bitching about someone no one can hear you. Okay?"

I jumped out of my seat and tackled Sabrina in a hug. "Yay! Thanks Sabs, you're the best."

Sabrina smiled down at me and patted my head. "You're welcome Keys. Besides, you were kind of right I guess."

Inwardly I cheered about my victory. If Sabrina Shepard agreed with my pissed off, not very well thought out comment, then obviously Liara was wrong.

"But she doesn't really understand humans that much, so you gotta go easy on her."

God damn.

"…Fine," I grumbled finally. Sabrina nodded in approval.

"Thanks Keys."

Joker looked up at us. "Why'd you call her 'Keys'?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Really Moreau? You're asking why my nickname's Keys when your nickname is 'Joker' of all things?"

He scowled a bit. "Yeah, but why is your nickname Keys?"

A devilish smirk appeared on Sabrina's lips, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Oh Kim, you're not embarrassed about how you got your nickname are you?"

"No!" I denied, crossing my arms. "Sabs, don't."

Although some people would think that the skills I gained from my past were useful, I wasn't all that proud about how I got them. I was happier about where I was now instead of where I was before.

"She used to be a car thief," Sabrina told him. "The best lockpicker and hacker in Vancouver BC."

"I was not," I grumbled. "…Best in the Reds maybe…"

Joker raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Wait, so CP's a car thief?"

I glowered at him. "Do you have a problem with that, Moreau?"

He shrugged. "Just as long as you don't try to steal the Normandy."

I decided to poke some fun at him. "Damn, you've figured out my master plan."

"Like you'd be able to hack into the Normandy's systems."

"Now you're just tempting me to prove you wrong," I drawled, contemplating the difficulty of hacking into the systems and taking control from the co-pilots panel. All the control really came from Joker's panel, and normally only the pilot would be able to divert the control. However…

I smirked to myself.

It wouldn't be impossible. Difficult, yes, but I'd always loved a challenge.

"Really though CP, I don't know why you'd be embarrassed by that," Joker told me. "I mean, you were in a gang. Of course you'd be stealing things and picking locks."

"Oh, that's not the only reason her nickname's Keys," Sabrina laughed.

Oh no.

"Sabrina Shepard if you tell him I swear to god-!" Sabrina covered my mouth with her hand and grinned like the Cheshire cat over at Joker, who was now incredibly amused and paying even closer attention.

"One time we broke into this old car, and there was a CD in it," Sabrina started the story. I tried to pry her hand off my mouth, but damn her and her inhuman strength!

"A CD?! Wow that car must have been ancient!"

"I know! But somehow it survived, and the disk actually worked! Kim worked on it for hours to get the radio to work again so we could listen to some songs, and then she started singing all of them… perfectly! She sang them in perfect key and memorized all of them like right after hearing them once! It was amazing!"

"That must have been adorable, how old was she? Like, ten?" Joker laughed. "It's official, I gotta hear her sing." Finally I escaped Sabrina's grasp.

"Never!" I objected loudly.

"Sorry Keys, it has to happen," Sabrina beamed. "Next time we have a moment, we're going to karaoke. We'll bring the rest of the team, think of it as a way to make get to know Liara after what you did."

"If she's bad, I'm going to take vids," Joker decided with a nod.

I groaned. "I hate you both."

Those two were evil. Completely and utterly evil.

"So Joker, why does everyone call you Joker?" Sabrina asked him, now turning the tables. I smirked to myself as Joker realized what was happening.

And he did not like this topic much.

"Because I love to make little children laugh," he told her sarcastically.

Sabrina smirked. "I was just thinking about how much you remind me of Santa Claus."

"Not everyone calls me Joker," Moreau added.

"Oh?"

Joker's lips were set in a straight line. "My family for one. And now CP…" his green eyes met mine. "Yeah, you don't always call me Joker. Why's that?"

I huffed. "You told me to call you Flight Leauitenent Moreau. I didn't want to add the Flight Leauitenent," I explained, saying the last bit teasingly

"Insubordination," he jabbed back.

"Why'd you call me CP?" I questioned him evenly, a smile dancing on my lips.

"It's shorter than Co-Pilot."

I frowned. "Ah."

At that moment I realized that the nickname he'd given me was basically him rubbing my lower rank in my face this whole time, and I didn't really like that.

"You never answered my question," Sabrina cut into our banter with a sing-song voice. We both snapped our attention back to her, and Joker fixed his hat.

"Look, I didn't pick the name. One of the instructors in flight school used to bug me about never smiling. She started to call me Joker," his face scrunched up distastefully "and it stuck." Sabrina glanced at me for confirmation.

"Why so serious?" I quoted, mimicking our instructor's voice. Joker let out a short laugh, shaking his head at my imitation.

Sabrina stared at the pilot worriedly. The same kind of worried look she gave me sometimes, if only a bit weaker. "Why didn't you ever smile? Were you unhappy?"

Joker scoffed. "Look I worked my ass off in flight school Commander. The world's not going to hand you anything if you just stand around grinning like an idiot." He glanced at me, and I crossed my arms.

"You did not just do what I think you just did."

He smirked and returned his gaze to Sabrina. "By the end of the year I was the best pilot in the academy. Even better than the instructors and everbody knew it," he boasted.

"You totally did what I thought you did. Moreau. Not cool," I remarked, unamused.

Joker laughed at me for a moment before continuing. "It's not my fault all of you got your asses kicked by the sickly kid with creaky little legs," he jeered. "One guess who was smiling at graduation."

I pursed my lips but kept myself from saying anything. Even if I was feeling a bit irritated by Joker at that moment, I was actually starting to get along with him now and didn't want to ruin that by bringing up things from flight school. Before, his remarks would be rude or non-existent and he showed an obvious dislike for my presence… and that was even worse back when we were in flight school. Now, I didn't think he meant any harm. And we were, I guess, starting to be friends. He refused to admit that he wanted me as a friend of course, but hopefully that would change.

"Oh and Shepard? I'd prefer gold to silver for our medals," Joker divulged. "I figured you'd recommend us for one since we uh, pulled your boots out of the fire."

I wanted to giggle like a little girl when I realized he said 'we' instead of 'I'.

Progress.

Yeah, we had our differences but we were making progress.

Sabrina smiled, noticing my mood and expression change at Joker's words. "If I got the two of you medals you'd end up sitting on stage listening to politicians make boring speeches for a couple of hours."

"That's a good point," Joker agreed. "And they'd probably make me shave too. I spent the last seven weeks working on this baby, no medals worth that."

"Jeff 'Joker' Moreau's beard, worth more than gold," I quipped, returning to my seat.

"Do I sense I hint of sarcasm in there Flight Officer Kogan? Does facial hair take away points?" Joker inquired.

I matched his playful tone effortlessly. "Well, I really couldn't say Moreau. Different girls have different preferences. I prefer stubble for example, while Sabrina likes her men clean shaven."

Sabrina rolled her eyes. "You two are so weird."

"Or perhaps you're the weird one here," I countered.

"Hey Shepard, do you have any nicknames?" the pilot asked, returning to our previous topic.

Sabrina sighed. "Ashley calls me Skipper."

I nodded my approval. "I like that. That's a good nickname. Or, we could call you Crash."

It slowly dawned on Sabrina that I was getting revenge.

"Crash?" Joker looked puzzled. "Why?"

"Kimberly Anne Kogan, don't you dare-"

"One time when we were kids, we stole an Alliance official's skycar. It only took Sabrina five seconds to crash it. Into an Alliance office. And then she proceeded to try and get us out of there, and we ended up just flipping over. And she absolutely refused to let me try and drive, because I was too young," I went on. "All of the officers were just watching the skycar with guns drawn, and they were basically like 'Why the hell are two kids stealing a skycar?' And finally I'd convinced Sabs to move so I could attempt to salvage the situation, and I managed to get us a good five kilometers away before Sabs tried to take the controls away again and we ended up crashing into the ocean."

"You dared…" Sabrina glowered. I winked at her.

"It was not your finest moment. Luckily, no one got hurt and the Alliance fished us out," I continued. "Man, were they impressed. A twelve-year-old and a fifteen-year-old managing to cause so much chaos in such a short amount of time."

"You have got to be kidding me," Joker gaped. "Is this why you always say she shouldn't drive a mako?"

"Ehh, I say that she shouldn't drive a mako because Damian told me that during the mako training segment in basic, she decided to complete it she'd completely ignore the guns and instead crash into each target on the course to bring them down. Good thing they were android dummies!"

He face palmed. "Yeah. She shouldn't drive the mako."

"Not you too!" Sabrina cried.


	10. Noveria

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 10: Noveria  
~*~

We'd been docked on Noveria for about a half hour, and I just couldn't believe how much colder the ship had gotten. I rubbed my arms, glancing over at Joker.

"Uh, Moreau…?" I started. He adjusted his hat and sighed.

"Believe me. The heaters are on."

I sighed, turning on my comm to contact Sabrina. Luckily she wasn't busy. "Hey Sabs, I was wondering if I could leave the ship and check out the shops inside. That okay?"

"_Take one of the team with you and a sidearm."_

Overprotective Sabrina at her best. I sighed. "Really Sabrina, I don't think I'm much of a target for… anything really."

"_You bring someone with you or you stay on the ship_," Sabrina told me bluntly. "_I'll send a message over so they let you through with your weapons. And are you sure you want to come in here? There aren't a lot of shops._"

"I'm going to see if I can pick up a few things so I can use the kitchen in the mess hall."

"_Nice. Make something hot_."

I looked up in thought, bringing my hand to my chin. Something hot would be nice. And it had been awhile since I'd gotten the opportunity to cook for Sabrina… if I made something I knew she liked, I was sure that she'd be happy. And Noveria had a decent amount of humans (and richer folk), so I was sure that it wouldn't be too difficult to find the ingredients I preferred to use… Heck, maybe I'd even be able to find regular cow meat. It'd probably be expensive but…

"Spryce family chilli?" I suggested. Sabrina let out a whoop of approval.

"_Make enough for the crew Keys! I'll pay you back. And I now require you to bring two teammates, to protect the ingredients._"

Joker glanced at me. "Looks like Shepard has her priorities straight," he teased.

"Shut up Moreau," I grumbled. He grinned. I stood up and began to head out of the cockpit. "Well I'll see you in a bit then."

"Don't keep me waiting too long. Chilli sounds great."

"Doesn't it?" I responded before I left his presence.

I'd need to get some kind of tomatoes. Preferably fresh, but canned was more likely. Chilli powder, cayenne pepper… dried… I listed all the ingredients in my head. Then, who would be best for me to bring? I couldn't bring Garrus because he was off with Sabrina, and so was Liara… not that I'd even consider asking her to come with.

There was always Tali, or Ashley even! But if I was going to make food for the whole crew, plus two dextro-eaters, I'd need to bring someone stronger, someone like…

"Wrex!" I spotted the Krogan with Kaidan in the mess hall and ran up to them like an eager puppy. "And Kaidan! Can you two come with me to explore the shops here? Sabrina said I need to bring bodyguards."

Kaidan smiled at me awkwardly. "I suppose I could, since Shepard asked… why though?"

"She's afraid I'm going to get myself or the food shot at."

Wrex let out a low chuckle. "Shepard's smart to think that way."

I crossed my arms and gave the krogan a small glare. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Kaidan coughed awkwardly. "Careful Kim. You've already upset an asari."

"Care to repeat that Lieutenant?" I growled, turning my glare onto him. He smiled and laughed a bit.

"Even if you two aren't blood related, you certainly inherited her glare."

That snapped me out of my minor annoyance and made me pleased. I clapped happily and grinned at him. "You really think so? Man, I'm good," My gaze went back and forth between Wrex and Kaidan. "So… will you two come with me?"

"Shepard's orders," Wrex grunted. "I'll go grab my gun."

Kaidan nodded. "I'll suit up too."

I rolled my eyes at them. Really? It wasn't like we were going to fight with anyone. "Okay, Sabs told me to grab a weapon so I'll head down with you," I stated, the three of us heading to the elevator. Kaidan pressed the button and we began to head down… slowly.

"So tell me, who'd win in a fight between one of you and Shepard?" Wrex questioned us, a glint in his alien eyes. Kaidan was instantly flabbergasted.

"What? Commander Shepard is my superior officer. I can't imagine us ever having to fight."

I let out a snort as Wrex replied. "You can't? That's why Shepard's your superior officer. And that's why Shepard would win."

"What about you, Officer Kogan?" Kaidan asked me, awkwardness practically coming off of him in waves.

I shrugged. "I'd win."

Wrex nodded in agreement. "She's right."

Kaidan stared at us, a bit suspicious. "Why?"

"Shepard would let her," Wrex explained. I pouted, but knew he was right. Combat wise Sabrina had me beat. Then again, if we were racing Makos I would win, and that was really all that mattered. They day Sabrina could beat me in a race was the day I would give up piloting.

As in it would never happen.

Ever.

The elevator finally stopped and the three of us went to grab our gear. Well, the others went to grab their gear. I picked up a pistol, checked to see if it was in good condition and considered myself set for life. Sabrina was the one that got targeted by assassins, I was just a pilot. The fact that she was making me bring people with me was just an annoyance. A few minutes later Kaidan and Wrex were ready, and we headed out.

Luckily Sabrina's Spectre status got us in quickly and easily, and the three of us headed to the shops. I spotted Garrus from a while away, likely waiting on Sabrina to finish something…

"Hey Kim, what kind of ingredients do you need?" Kaidan called from inside the store, and I dashed over to him.

"Oh cool!" I gaped, holding up some packaged meat. "Ground Earth cow meat!" I exclaimed. Kaidan took the package from my hands and looked just as surprised as me. Especially when we looked at the price.

"That's really expensive Officer Kogan…" Kaidan mumbled. I smirked.

"Sabrina said she was paying. How much is the Council paying her again?" I questioned the biotic. Wrex chuckled from behind me. I held up a blue-ish looking protein and scrunched up my face in minor disgust. "Oh, and this looks like… a dextro-amino ground meat. Better not mix these two while I'm cooking…"

"That… would be a bad idea," Kaidan agreed, staying by my side as I gathered both dextro ingredients and levo ingredients. When we were done… well, it wasn't too expensive when I casually mentioned that we were from a Spectre's ship, and having Wrex behind me also helped lower the price.

Now, I wasn't normally a fan of intimidation tactics, but people really shouldn't charge that much for ground beef, even if it was an Earth import.

Exiting the store, I was cheerful to see that Sabrina and Garrus were standing there waiting for us, and a little sour seeing Liara. But Sabrina beamed at me, and looked even happier when she saw Kaidan and Wrex carrying the groceries. And I had to admit, seeing Wrex carry a plastic shopping bag was quite a sight.

"Hey guys!" Sabrina greeted. "We got a pass to get in to the garage. Do you guys want to check out their Makos? I thought Kim'd like to see them."

I clapped enthusiastically. "I'd love to see them Sabs! Thanks!"

So the six of us walked through the cold (because of the people, not the temperature. The building itself was very well heated) building and to the garage, Sabrina using her pass to get us in. I walked in first, excited to see their vehicles—

I dropped like a rock.

Pain blossomed in my right leg, and a second later I felt a similar pain in my left. Then, my legs just felt numb. I looked up, dazed, and saw a laser pointed right at me, coming from…

A Geth.

I drew my pistol, aimed, and fired. The Geth jumped away, and it was then that I noticed how fast my heart was beating. I tried to stand up, but let out a cry and looked down at my legs that were now bleeding. I'd been shot in my right knee, and my left calf.

Well, that was going to make it difficult to walk.

Wrex jumped in front of me to protect me from any other shots. Sabrina was screaming orders at Garrus and Liara.

"Keep her safe! Everyone, circle around Kim so the Geth don't have a clear shot!"

When I was able to look past Wrex, I was able to see… maybe five other geth. Garrus lined up his sniper rifle and blew one's head off. Liara threw another into the air with her biotics. Where was the hopper? I gulped nervously, eyes darting from place to place trying to spot it. I looked up.

It was watching me from the ceiling, with its… eye, thing. Then I noticed a laser coming from its eye, pointing right at Sabrina's head.

"Sabrina look out!" I screamed, lining up my pistol sights at an amazing speed and filling the hopper with bullets.

Once all the Geth were down, Sabrina immediately knelt by my side, eyes filled with worry and guilt.

"Kim? You okay?"

"I think my legs are broken," I replied through gritted teeth.

"The Geth used a smart tactic," Wrex noted. "One shot through the knee to bring her down, another through the other leg to keep her from running. She's lucky it didn't shoot her in the head."

I looked around, ignoring the fact that I couldn't even stand up. "Are the groceries alright?"

Wrex laughed at that while Sabrina face palmed. "Okay, I'm calling Joker to let Chakwas know you need medical attention. I'm one hundred percent sure that you have a concussion. Kaidan, could you get us a stretcher over here?"

"On it Commander," Kaidan responded, exiting the garage to organize it with Noveria's officers. I began humming to myself, Sabrina combing through my hair with her hand.

"So, you glad I convinced you to bring back up?"

"Too bad you didn't convince me to wear armor. Not that there'd be anything that would fit me," I sighed. "Okay Sabs, distract me before the adrenaline wears off or I'm going to be in pain."

"What do you want me to do?" Sabrina asked me. Wrex stood guard nearby, his gun ready in case of danger. Liara stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

"Knock me out," I told her bluntly.

"Not gunna happen Keys."

I groaned. "Okay. I'm just going to lay her and bleed out."

"You're gunna be fine. They only shot you twice," Sabrina laughed. I glared at her. Luckily, that's when Kaidan came in with a stretcher. "Okay, let's get you back to the ship Flight Officer Kogan. Garrus, lets carry her."

The two of them placed me onto the stretcher, strapping me in before lifting me off the ground and heading back towards the ship. "Sorry for wasting time," I mumbled. Sabrina turned her head to smile at me.

"Not your fault Keys," she told me in a soothing voice. I sighed, closing my eyes. "It's my fault that you're going to be a cripple like Joker," Sabrina joked.

That bomb getting dropped made me feel absolutely terrible. "Not funny Sabrina," I nearly growled. Garrus took one look at my expression and shook his head.

"You're not going to be a cripple," the turian told me.

Yeah, he didn't really get why Sabrina's comment had upset me.

Soon we'd returned to the ship, and I stealthily took a picture of Wrex and Kaidan heading ahead to the kitchen to put the groceries (that were thankfully safe) into the kitchen. Chakwas met up with us in the CIC, where she gave me a disapproving look.

"Both legs, Officer Kogan?"

"Yup," I grinned at her sheepishly. "At least I'm not dead."

"I suppose you've still got a few of your nine lives to spend, just try not to use them all at once," Karen suggested. I laughed and nodded. "I suspect you're not in too much pain?"

"Oh, just wait till the adrenaline wears off," I answered, Garrus and Sabrina carrying me down to the medbay so I could be patched up. "How long do you think I'll be off my feet Doc?"

"That depends on the scans," Karen replied. "Shepard, thank you for bringing her here. Just set her down over there and I'll let you know how she's faring in about an hour."

"No problem. Garrus, can you stay on the ship? Liara, you're still coming with me and… We'll bring Kaiden along too," Sabrina decided as she and her team left, Liara following after my adopted sister like a puppy. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the Asari, instead keeping my eyes on Karen, who scanned me with her omni-tool.

"You're certainly lucky. The bones should heal nicely within a week… A century ago though, you likely wouldn't ever recover," Chakwas told me seriously. "While we have had many advancements in medicine over the years, please try not to get hurt. Some injuries can't be healed. Death, for example."

I watched Chakwas as she worked, applying medi-gel to my injuries and straightening my legs. I let out a yelp at the sharp pain that movement brought, and Chakwas smiled at me gently.

"They are broken, Kim," Chakwas explained. "And unless I do this, they won't heal properly."

"Am I going to be confined in one space for the week?" I pouted at the doctor, who shook her head and laughed.

"Of course not. But I don't want you standing on those legs!" She announced. "You'll be using a wheelchair. For the next twenty-four hours you're not to leave this level of the ship. Tomorrow, if your legs are healing well, then I will ask the Commander to assign someone to help you get up and down the stairs to the CIC."

I groaned. Life was going to be so boring for this next week.

Chakwas put a brace on my left calf, and used a special brace for my knee. "There. That'll help with the healing process."

"Does Joker use braces like these?" I questioned the doctor. Karen's eyes locked with mine, surprised. "You know, for his vrolik's syndrome."

Karen nodded after a moment. "The ones Joker uses are similar, yes."

"Is anyone working on a cure for Vrolik's Syndrome?" I pressed. "What does he use now to deal with his condition? Is there medication that helps his legs?"

Chakwas smiled at me in a grandmotherly way. "Doctor-Patient confidentiality Officer Kogan. But I can tell you that there is a medication that helps, but doesn't cure. And there are some people working on a cure but not many. Very few people have Vrolik's Syndrome."

"Well that's just stupid!" I blurted. "Who cares if it's a small percent of people? They're still people! Don't they deserve a cure too?" I ranted. "That's like saying that we shouldn't have cured lung disease in smokers because those people choose to smoke."

Chakwas laughed at how passionate I was about it. "You're not wrong, Kim."

"If I was a doctor, I'd cure it," I grumbled. "Then Moreau'd be able to dance."

"I'm sure he would appreciate the thought," Karen soothed me as she grabbed me a wheelchair and helped me into it, scanning me with her omni-tool once more before giving a nod of approval.

"Am I good?" I asked. Chakwas nodded.

"As good as you can be with a busted knee and a broken bone," the doctor began to push me into the mess hall. "I'll send word to Shepard and Joker to let them know what's going on. Will you be fine on your own for a bit?"

"I'm going to see how fast I can roll around," I grinned. Karen rolled her eyes and headed back to her workspace.

"I'll check on you in an hour," she called. I sat in my wheelchair, alone in the mess hall. I wheeled myself over to the kitchen, seeing the canned goods sitting on the counter. I managed to open the fridge to take out the vegetables and meats, but then I realized that I wouldn't be able to grab the cooking utensils in the cupboard.

Unless I stood up. But that would hurt.

Opening my omni-tool, I called Garrus and Ashley.

"Guy's I'm useless, help me cook."


	11. Healing

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 11: Healing  
~*~

It didn't take long for Garrus and Ashley to come over to help me out. They were also quite willing to help me, although the turian was a bit apprehensive about having a human direct him in cooking dextro food…

"Garrus, you can adjust my recipe to fix it if it's bad!" I declared. Garrus towered over me and smiled a toothy turian smile.

"I'm sure it'll be… fine," he decided, pulling the ground blue meat out from its plastic bag and separating the canned dextro ingredients from the levo ingredients. "An interesting combination of ingredients, but we can make this work."

I pouted. "Well, I don't really know much about cooking for turians and quarians… so if it sucks then I'm sorry."

Garrus chuckled, looking over his shoulder to smile at me. His blue eyes shone with amusement. "It's not going to be bad, it's just going to be… unique."

Ashley laughed. "Don't worry about it Kim, it's going to be fine."

"Okay!" I cheered. "Well, the first thing you gotta do is cook the meat in the pot."

"Obviously Kim is a living cookbook," Ash noted, Garrus chuckling again. "So, Garrus, tell me how Kim managed to get both legs injured?"

"Not even going to ask me about it Ash? I see how it is," I grumbled. She ruffled my hair and beamed down at me. It was bad enough that I was short, but now that I was confined to a wheelchair it just made the height difference even worse.

"Aw, feeling a little down Kim?" the soldier teased. I stuck my tongue out at her.

"She walked into a room before Shepard did," Garrus shrugged. "There were Geth."

I felt the colour drain from my face at the reminder of the Geth. Watching me, calculating, aiming. If I hadn't aimed… Ash shook my shoulder. "You feeling okay there? You kind of zoned out on us."

"I'm fine, fine!" I forced out, forcing a grin onto my face and staring up at them. "Ok, now you just add all the canned shit. But drain the beans first! And Ash, chop up the celery, mushrooms, garlic, peppers, um…" I looked up in thought, Garrus watching me with his cool blue eyes. "Oh and an onion. And Garrus! I didn't know much about dextro vegetables, so I just took the stuff that looked the most colourful."

"Luckily, you managed to get some pretty ripe ones. I'll wash them first, to be safe," Garrus told me with a shrug. Ashley took her vegetables and waited for Garrus to finish so she could wash hers.

"You know Kim, I never took you for a chef," Ashley commented. "Well, then again, you do have a bit of an old soul vibe."

"I've never heard that term before," Garrus stated. "What does it mean Gunnery Chief?"

I looked up thoughtfully as the two of them chatted. I supposed I did have an old soul. Damian used to mention the same thing about me, especially since Sabs and I used to sit around listening to old music.

But really, could anyone blame me for that? Old music sounded so much better than the club crap we had today.

"It means that she likes old things and is kind of old fashioned," Ashley shrugged. "I mean, when was the last time you cooked Garrus?"

Garrus mandibles flickered sheepishly. "Not since I was younger to be honest."

"Same, the only time I cook is when I'm home with my family," Ashley nodded. "So Kim, do you think you have an old soul?"

I scoffed. "By your definition of course I do. Have you seen my music playlist? My oldest songs are from the 1900's darling."

Ashley's jaw dropped and she grabbed my arm to activate my omni-tool. "This I have to see. Oh my god, you're not lying! Play us something!"

I rolled my eyes but complied with the request. "This song, Ash, is what I think your soul sounds like."

"_When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me  
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be…"_

The song kept playing in the background while we continued to chat and cook.

"If that's what my soul sounds like I don't mind, send me the song," Ash smiled. "Give Vakarian one next."

I looked up thoughtfully. "Garrus might be a bit more difficult to song soul, and sure! I guess I'm converting you to old music huh Ash?" I teased. Ash stuck her tongue out at me. "Copycat."

"I learned from the best," Ashley replied with a wink."

"Oh Ash! Add the chilli powder and the cayenne pepper… don't be too shy with the spices! Add salt and pepper too," I looked at Garrus, who was now adding the dextro veggies to his pot. "And you… add spicy dextro spices! I asked the guy at the front which ones were spicy and stuff."

"It looks… weird," Ash scrunched up her nose when she peeked at Garrus's. I did not have the luxury of being able to see. "Smells okay I guess."

"It smells… normal, I suppose," Garrus replied uncertainly.

"Hey Garrus, how sick would I get if I tried dextro food?" I inquired. The turian sharpshooter dropped the spoon he'd been using to mix the dextro chilli and spun around to stare at me with a…

I think it was a flabbergasted expression?

I giggled. Cooking Garrus was almost as funny as Wrex holding a shopping bag.

"You're not allowed to try it," Garrus told me firmly, picking the spoon off the ground and going to wash it in the sink. "You'd get sick. You're already confined to a wheelchair, don't make it worse."

"I was only wondering," I sighed. "Tell me if it suites your tastes though Gare! I wanna know."

Garrus sniffed it before getting himself a spoonful and eating it. He chewed for a moment before swallowing, Ash and I watching him like hawks to take in his reaction. The turian looked up thoughtfully before nodding.

"It tastes okay."

I groaned loudly, balling my hands into fists and throwing them into the air. "But Garrus! It needs to taste good! I want Tali to love it as much as I love her!" I whined.

"How's Tali even going to eat it?" Ash pondered. I shrugged.

"I figure that her suit has a food decontamination thing. Or something."

Garrus shook his head at my weirdness and added a bit more of the dextro spices. "I'll make it better, don't worry."

"Have I ever told you guys how awesome you guys are? Because you're awesome," I beamed.

Ash smirked, eyes twinkling with mischief. "Is it just me or does she act like even more of a kid when she's injured?"

"As long as we can keep her out of the dextro food," Garrus drawled nonchalantly.

"I'm not a child," I huffed, crossing my arms. My two companions laughed at that, and the three of us spent the next half hour chatting, listening to music, and cooking. Once the chilli was done, we labelled the pots accordingly and stuck them in the fridge.

"This was fun," Garrus told Ash and I as he went to return to his post. "I'm going to head down and maintain my equipment. Since we won't get a new Mako till we get back to the Mako I don't exactly have a lot to do."

I sat up straighter. "Wait, I totally forgot about the Mako! It's burning on Therum, isn't it?"

Garrus placed his talons on the top of my head, mimicking Ashley's earlier gesture. "You were right when you said nothing I'd do would be enough. Shepard just wanted to leave it behind."

Ashley snickered. "Well I'm going to head out too Kiddo. Promised my family that I'd give them a call today. You'll be okay up here?"

I waved them off. "Yeah no problem. Chakwas said she was going to check on me soon anyways." It was only when the two of them began walking away that I realized what Ash had called me. "And I'm not even younger than you Ash! You're like two months younger than me!"

"Whatever you say Flight Officer!" she called back, grinning from ear to ear.

Was it really so bad to be childish? I was a childish person with an old soul. It was the perfect combination! As I pondered it, Chakwas came out of her office to check up on me.

"Ah Kim, I assume you're feeling okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, Ash and Garrus came to spend some time with me… I'm going to ask Tali if she wants to spend some time with me too."

"Well, I just thought I'd let you know that Jeff's coming down to visit you right now," Karen told me with a gentle smile. I attempted to do a wheelie with the wheelchair.

"Oh really? Awesome," I replied cheerfully. "I guess Sabrina's going to be taking a lot of time on Noveria?"

"When I called the Commander she was on her way to Peak 15, so I assume she'll be on the planet for at least a few more hours," the doctor answered. "Anyways, the medi-gel should be done setting by tomorrow, but we won't be able to start rehabilitation for a few more days. Hopefully that won't be too much trouble."

"Doesn't sound like it'll take too long," I shrugged. "I mean, how long would it take without medi-gel? That stuff should be renamed miracle-gel."

"You're not wrong Officer Kogan," Karen replied, kneeling by me and checking my legs. "Knee is swelling up, but that's to be expected. I'll apply another layer of medi-gel so the pain doesn't return while you're with Jeff."

"Thanks Karen," I grinned as the doctor used her omni-tool to administer the gel. Joker came limping down the stairs with his crutches as the doctor finished, looking a bit unsettled. I lifted a hand to wave to him. "Hey Moreau! Coming to hang out with me?"

"Just making sure you're okay," he admitted grumpily. I grinned cheekily, Karen heading back to her office to give us some space.

"I knew you liked me, I'll bet you were incredibly worried," I joked.

Joker rolled his eyes and frowned, sitting down on one of the mess hall chairs near me. "I wasn't worried," he grumbled.

I smirked, feeling mischievous. "I don't know Moreau, you looked kind of extremely concerned when you were coming down here."

"I was concerned about what would happen if I fell down those stairs," the pilot snapped.

I sighed, rolling my eyes in slight annoyance. "Yeah, okay."

If he wasn't going to admit it then there wasn't anything I could really do about it.

The two of us sat (well, I didn't really have a choice) in silence for a few minutes before Joker spoke up. "…CP?" he started. I looked up to see him watching me almost timidly. "You are okay, right? You're not in pain?"

"Luckily medi-gel numbs the pain caused by the holes in my legs," I mused. Joker smirked at my comment, reaching forward and placing a hand on my shoulder.

"I guess was worried, at least a little," he confessed, green eyes looking into mine.

"Is it because we're best friends?" I questioned teasingly.

Joker let out a long sigh, but still looked amused. "I suppose so," He admitted.

I cheered. "Yes! It's been admitted. We're the best of best friends."

"Well, we're not best friends. But I guess we can be friends," Moreau decided. I stuck out my tongue at him.

"Fine, I'll take it… for now!" I declared. "But we'll be best friends one day Moreau!"

"Sure, sure," he laughed. "But really, why'd a Geth shoot you anyways? You're practically harmless."

"Right?" I exclaimed. "Seriously! I was the only one that walked into the room without armor, why'd it target me? Like I'd be a threat!" I paused, looking up thoughtfully. "Well, actually, I did fill one of them up with bullets, so I was kind of a threat. But that was after I got crippled!"

Moreau raised an eyebrow. "Okay, now I'm really questioning my opinion of you being harmless."

"It was targeting Sabrina!" I countered. "What was I supposed to do? Let it shoot her?"

"Well, she did let it shoot you," Joker jabbed. "So, you're feeling okay?"

"Are you kidding?" I gestured to my legs. "This is going to be fine in a week. I'm going to be fine Moreau. And I just had a very fun time with Ash and Garrus before you came up! They helped me make chilli, wanna eat?"

"Really? The turian with the stick up his ass helped you cook?" Joker questioned in disbelief, grabbing his crutches and standing up to begin the short trek to the kitchen. I rolled along beside him. "You're lying. I can't imagine that."

"Ash helped too, we made a small batch of dextro chilli for him and Tali, and I'm not lying! It was a ton of fun, we even listened to old music and junk like that," I beamed. Joker shook his head, smiling.

"Fine, fine, I believe you," he chuckled. "How does Tali even eat? Does she have some sort of food decontamination thing in her suit?"

"That's what I think! But yeah, we had a good time," I nodded.

Joker opened the fridge and took out the levo labelled chilli. "You know what's going to be a fun time? When Shepard takes us out for karaoke."

"You really want to hear me sing that badly huh?"

"Well, you were embarrassed about it. It's going to be hilarious."

I smirked. "You do realize that she's going to make you sing too right?"

Joker froze. "Shit."

I snickered at his expression. He looked absolutely horrified by the idea that Shepard would actually make him participate in karaoke. "Okay, if you really don't want to sing, we can do group mode. You can take the least song-like lines and I'll make it so you don't suck."

He seemed relieved. "Thanks CP. You know, the whole 'how does Tali eat' thing is really bugging me."

"Wanna ask her?" I inquired. He nodded.

"Yeah, let's ask her," Moreau agreed, grabbing some bowls for us while I pulled up her contact info on my omni-tool.

Tali's sweet, accented voice came out from my omni-tool's speaker. _"What is is Kim?" _the quarian questioned. _"Are you alright? Ash mentioned that you'd been hurt… I can come up in a bit to hang out with you if you're bored."_

My eyes sparkled at her kindness, a wide smile spreading across my face. Moreau glanced at my expression and snickered.

"You're such a weirdo," the pilot teased. I glared at him.

"Moreau shut it! I'm happy that my love wants to spend time with me!" I growled before turning my attention back to the omni-tool. "Anyways Tali, that'd be great! And we were just wondering if we could ask you a question-"

"A quarian related question," Joker piped in, handing me a bowl of the chilli.

"_Yes?"_

"How do you guys even eat?" I inquired. Tali's adorable giggle rang through the speaker and I inwardly gushed at her cuteness.

God I loved Tali.

"_Why don't you two just search it on the extranet?" _

Moreau groaned. "Aw come on Tali, you know you can't trust everything you read on the extranet."


	12. Back to the Citadel

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 11: Back to the Citadel  
~*~

"I can't believe Shepard asked me to babysit you two," Ashley sighed, following behind me and Joker as we rolled/limped along. "Meanwhile, she's off with Vakarian and Alenko. Sometimes I feel like she never brings me along."

I shrugged my shoulders, spinning the wheels on my wheelchair. "Well, do you really want to be stuck with Sabs as she tells Udina why we need a new Mako?"

"Guess not," Ash replied, but she still seemed a little bit… absent.

Yeah, she was wishing that Sabrina had brought her along.

"Ash, are you feeling like a tomato?" I questioned her seriously. The soldier raised an eyebrow.

"What in the world are you talking about Kim?"

Joker turned his head to give me a similar expression. "Yeah CP, what?"

"Long ago tomatoes were classified as a vegetable. Then, over a century ago they were reclassified as a fruit," I explained. "To this day, there are people that completely reject the tomato as a fruit thus making it the most left out fruit. Ash feels sad because Sabrina never brings her along, so if Ash was a fruit she would be a tomato."

Ash ruffled my hair. "_You're_ a tomato."

I scoffed. "I am not a tomato."

Joker snickered. "Yeah, she's not a tomato."

"Oh really? Then what fruit is she?" Ash asked him. I giggled at how serious we were about this topic.

"I don't know," Moreau grumbled. "Like, a strawberry or something."

"Oh, I can see that!" Ash exclaimed. "Because they're so small, and so is Kim."

"They're also really childish," the pilot added.

I huffed. "Yeah, well you're an orange that isn't ripe!" I shot back decisively.

He turned to look at me, appalled. "What? Yeah, no way."

"She's right," Ash agreed with a grin. "You are the unripened orange."

Good old Ash, always there to back me up. I nodded and smiled. "See? Even Ash can see that you're an unripened orange."

The three of us continued rolling, limping, and walking along. "What do you guys even mean when you say I'm an unripened orange?" Moreau asked us. We shrugged.

"You can't just explain it easily all the time," I replied. "For example, Sabrina is a dragonfruit. Wrex is a grapefruit… Tali would be a plum, Garrus seems like a lychee to me, and Kaidan is a peach," I shrugged. "You're an unripened orange. It just makes sense."

Ash looked up in thought, contemplating all my fruit comparisons. "Yeah, I can't really say why Tali's a plum or why Skipper is a dragonfruit. They just are. But with Kaidan, he's really sweet so… he's a peach."

"And he looks cute," I added with a wink.

"When you say things like that I start to realize how the rumors got started," Moreau stated, smirking even more when I scowled.

Me and Kaidan? Never going to happen. I was a strong supporter of him and Sabrina, especially if it kept Liara from chasing after my sister. THAT was a pairing that I would never approve of in a million years.

It was my NOTP.

"Again, he is not my love interest," I responded dryly. "Tali is my love interest. Tali gets all the points."

"That's the other rumor that's sprung up," Moreau teased.

I stuck out my tongue at him. "It's not like my feelings for her are serious, she knows I'm just kidding around. The love I have for her is purely friend love. It's better than love-love."

"Love-love?" Joker laughed in disbelief. "What are you, five?"

"I'm twenty-five," I deadpanned before completely changing the subject with a cheerful grin. "But yeah, so, pizza! This is going to be tasty."

"So the one-sided relationship topic is going away? Okay," Joker shrugged as we approached the pizza joint: Blue Moon Pizza.

I had researched the establishment for a good amount of time before we docked, and I was happy with my restaurant choice. One of the first human-owned restaurants on the citadel, and they were alien friendly (of course, they'd have to be on the Citadel), and… 4.5 star rating on the extranet!

So if it sucked, I was going to write a scalding review. It would be so scalding, that it would burn the 4.5 down to a 3.5.

Entering the place, I nodded in approval. The first thing I spotted was an asari waitress. The first thing I smelled was fresh pizza.

Fresh, delicious pizza.

…Good sign.

Silver and black booths and tables were placed neatly around the space, with some old style arcade games lining a wooden wall on the left side. The rest of the walls were a dark navy colour with some photographs of happy customers and the employee's hanging from them. From where we were standing I could see that on the back wall, 'Blue Moon Pizza' was painted in white, curvy letters. The lights glowed a lovely cyan hue, and the floor was dotted with a galaxy-like pattern. The place seemed fairly busy, and… oh cute! A turian kid!

Yeah, I liked the place. No, scratch that… so far I adored it.

"Aw CP, come on," Joker chuckled. "Get the stars out of your eyes."

Ashley snickered. "Cute, she's drooling."

I snapped out of my trance and wiped my face. "You saw nothing."

The asari smiled in amusement at our antics. "Table for 3?" She asked us.

"Yes please," Ash replied, mirroring the server's smile. "Hope that accommodating two cripples won't cause you too much trouble."

"Not at all!" The asari beamed. "Here at Blue Moon Pizza we pride ourselves in our ability to serve everyone, regardless of race, age, allergies, or disabilities. Right this way please!

My heart fluttered and an ecstatic grin grew on my lips as we followed the asari to our table. "I love this place," I sighed dreamily. Our server removed some chairs to make it easier for me, a male human employee coming over to help her out.

Joker chuckled, shaking his head at me. "Never thought I'd see someone fall in love with a restaurant."

"Shush you, you're ruining my moment," I remarked. The pilot rolled his eyes and took a seat, the male server pushing me in my wheelchair and setting me so I was right across from him. Once the two of us were seated, Ash took the chair next to Joker. Menus were handed to each of us and the male server that was helping the Asari clapped his hands together.

"Hello, my name's Dylan and I'll be your server today, can I offer you anything to drink?"

I glanced up to look at his face. He had stubble, a strong jaw, blonde hair, and green eyes. And a cute smile. "I'll just have water for now, thanks."

"Same," Ash agreed.

Moreau shrugged. "Well, if the girls are having water I guess I'll have that too."

"Three waters coming right up," Dylan announced before walking away from our table. As soon as he was out of earshot Joker leaned forward with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"So CP, how many points did that guy get?" he questioned me. Ashley raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"What's he going on about?" the soldier asked me. I opened up my menu and decided to keep my attention elsewhere.

"Well, once me and Moreau got into the topic of my ideal guy, and our server just now pretty much fit the bill," I explained, scanning the different pizzas and flavours. "Do you guys wanna share a pizza or just go for the by the slice option?"

"Whoa whoa wait," Ash stopped me. "You and Joker were talking about your ideal guy and I wasn't there? Spill."

Joker laughed. "Blonde hair, green eyes, stubble but no beard. Looks to be in his twenties. What he's missing is an accent, and we can't tell if he has abs."

"Guys, slice option or split a pizza?" I repeated, feeling a blush begin to dust my cheeks. Why did I ever talk to Moreau about that stuff?

"Kim, this is important," Ash teased. "We found basically your perfect guy."

"But what would Tali think?" I whined. "Come on guys, just drop it. Please?" I begged. Sadly, that was when Kurt arrived with our waters. Joker smirked at me, and I was certain I could see devil horns poking out from his head.

"Excuse me, Dylan, right?" Joker started. Kurt nodded in confirmation. "See, we have reason to believe that you might be my friend, Kim here's," he pointed to me, "ideal man. We'd just like to ask you a few questioned to confirm."

Dylan glanced at me, amusement shining in his eyes and his smile widening as my blush darkened. "Well, of course."

"Sorry about this," I mumbled.

Our server shook his head, gentle smile on his face. "No, it's fine. I'm honored to be in consideration for a girl as beautiful as yourself."

"A smooth talker, huh?!" Ash laughed, totally on Joker's side for this one. My face burned five times hotter and I hid my face in my hands. Joker watched Kurt with a hint of annoyance.

"First of all, do you have abs? It's a very important feature," the pilot asked the other man seriously. "Secondly, how old are you?"

Dylan chuckled. "I have abs, and I'm twenty-four. Are you ready to order?"

"We'll need just a few more minutes," Joker grinned. When Kurt was out of earshot, the pilot turned to me with a raised eyebrow. "So? Is he a winner?" he inquired. I removed my hands from my face and glared at Moreau darkly.

"You're an ass," I stated.

Joker grinned. "I know."

Ash watched the two of us bicker for a minute before speaking up. "So, what kind of pizza do you guys want to split?"

"I like pepperoni with mushrooms!" I announced. Joker scrunched up his face in disgust.

"Mushrooms on pizza?" Moreau gagged. "Talk about ruining a good thing."

Ashley rolled her eyes and smiled. "It's not that bad. Okay, how's about this… We'll get two pizzas, Kim chooses one and you choose the other."

"Okay," Joker nodded. He scanned his menu. "I choose… the BBQ buffalo chicken pizza."

It was my turn to gag. "Chicken on pizza? What is wrong with you?" I grimaced. "I can understand chicken in a sandwich, or chicken with a mashed potato dinner… but on pizza?"

"This, coming from the girl who likes mushrooms on her pizza!" Joker exclaimed. "You're unbelievable."

"You're unbelievable!" I shot back with a hint of anger.

Ash rolled her eyes. "Break it up you two."

I huffed and crossed my arms. "I hate you both."

The female soldier sighed, leaning over the table and resting her head on her hands. "Now I know why Shepard asked me to babysit you two," she waved over Dylan. "We're ready to order!"

"What can I get for you guys?" Dylan asked us as he approached. He turned his gaze on me and I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly, averting my gaze.

"Um, large pepperoni mushroom pizza please," I requested softly. He nodded and jotted it down in his notepad before turning his gaze on Joker.

"Large BBQ buffalo chicken pizza," Joker told him. Dylan jotted it down and grinned.

"I'll get these ready for you folks in a jiffy," Dylan walked away, heading to the back (where I assumed the kitchen was located) while Joker changed our conversation topic.

"So, back on the topic of comparing people to fruit… I don't think Garrus is a lychee. Lychee's are sweet, but Garrus is always so angry," Joker shrugged. Ash and I gave the pilot equal looks of disbelief.

"Garrus? Angry?" I raised an eyebrow. "Garrus is so cool."

"Yeah, he doesn't really strike me as angry," Ash agreed. "I mean, the two of us spent a good amount of time with Garrus a couple days ago. He's serious, but fun to be around."

"I thought I was the fun one in our group," I joked. Ash let out a short laugh.

"Yes Kim, you're the fun one."

Joker adjusted his hat on his head. "Well, regardless, I think Vakarian's a kiwano."

I stared at the pilot in silence for a few minutes before leaning my head on my arms. "I've never even heard of that before. What the hell's a kiwano?"

Joker tapped a few buttons on his omni-tool to pull up a picture. I gaped in surprise when I saw it, it was all pokey, and orange, and the inside was green.

"Yeah that looks like an angry fruit," I stated. "But I don't know, Garrus doesn't really strike me as a kiwano… Though I agree that lychee's might be too sweet for Garrus!"

"Maybe we're focusing too much on fruits that look spikey, maybe we should try to consider fruits that aren't spikey," Ash suggested just as Dylan arrived with our pizzas. I licked my lips as the pepperoni mushroom was placed in front of me, and smirked mischievously as Joker looked at my pizza of choice and cringed.

"Want a slice Moreau?" I asked him sweetly. The pilot scowled.

"Never," he answered in disgust. I let out a giggle and took a slice for myself while Dylan set the chicken one down in front of Ashley and grinned at us.

"Hope you guys enjoy!" The server beamed at us before going to tend to other customers.

"We will!" Ash and I responded in unison, glancing at each other and giggling a bit. After that, Ash and Moreau both took from the chicken pizza (bleh) and the three of us began to eat.

"Why do you think that Garrus is an angry person anyways Moreau?" I questioned, taking a bite out of my pizza. "I mean, sure he's pretty serious but he's nice!"

Joker shrugged. "Yeah, well, he's a C-sec officer. All those guys have sticks up their asses, but Vakarian's worse because he's all about finding his own form of justice," the pilot explained. "And he's always so serious. All the time. Guy can't take a joke."

I shrugged. "Maybe he just can't take your jokes."

We ate in between bouts of banter, and once we were full we asked for the leftovers to be packed. When Dylan brought over the bill, I was the first to pull out my credit chit.

"I'm paying!" I announced, leaving no room for argument. Ash raised her arms in surrender while Joker grumpily put his chit away. I grinned up at Dylan, who smiled down at me as he scanned my chit to process the transaction. "Thank you very much Dylan, the food was delicious."

"It was a pleasure serving you," he replied kindly. "Want to swap omni-codes?"

I was taken aback by his forwardness and clumsily activated my omni-tool. "Sure! Sounds good, great! I'd love to!" I nearly squeaked in response.

Dylan chuckled, opening his and scanning my tool. "You're cute. Thanks a lot Kim, hope I'll hear from you soon."

Ash unlocked the wheels on my chair and began wheeling me out. I had the pizza sitting on my lap while Joker limped out behind us. "Kim got a boys number," the soldier teased. "I wonder how Skipper's going to react," Ash laughed as she pushed me.

"Maybe she'll shoot him," Joker grumbled as he limped behind us. Ash looked over her shoulder to smirk at him.

"What, are you unhappy that Kim's dream guy actually made a move?" she asked him.

"Of course not," Joker scoffed. "Just wondering if there's something wrong with him. I mean, CP? Cute? Even after I asked him about his abs?"

Ash grinned. "Sounds like you're jealous," she stated.

"Jealous?" Joker repeated incredulously. "Nope. Not a chance. I was just trying to embarrass CP."

I didn't pay any mind to the two of them as they bickered back and forth, instead staring at Dylan's contact into on my omni-tool. Very few guys had shown interest in me before, and I was incredibly shocked that he was still interested AFTER Joker had put him on the spot with his dumb questions.

"-Kim? Hello?" Ash snapped her fingers in front of my face and I shook off my trance.

"Yes?" I turned my head to look up at her in confusion.

"Shepard's on voice chat," Ash told me, amused.

I grinned and spoke up. "Hey Sabs! Whats up? You all done with Udina?"

"_Yeah. We're heading over to Choras Den, why don't you three meet us there?" _Shepard's voice rang from Ash's omni-tool. I nodded even though she couldn't see me.

"Yeah, sure! See you in a bit," I glanced at Ash and Joker to see if they were alright with that. They both nodded in approval.

"_Shepard Out."_

"So Kim, mind explaining why you were so out of it a minute ago?" the female soldier inquired. I felt my cheeks heat up slightly, and I smiled up at the soldier shyly.

"I've never really had a guy ask me for my omni-code before," I explained softly.

Joker snickered. "Yeah, go figure."

Ash shot him a glare before returning a friendly gaze to me. "Well I think it's cute. Are you going to message him?"

I scoffed. "Maybe, I don't know. I mean, I might," I began to stumble over my words. "He was pretty cute. He kind of had a Chris Hemsworth vibe… You know what? I'll ask Tali," I decided with a nod.

"You have such a girl crush," Ash rolled her eyes as she wheeled me towards the elevator. "Shouldn't take us too long to get to Choras Den. We're maybe five minutes away if Joker keeps up."

"Hey, hey! I didn't come out with you guys to break a leg," the pilot called. We laughed at him a bit, but slowed down. Eventually we made it to a darkened hallway, the one I think Tali and I went through to get to her meeting with Saren's assassins. Ash was pushing me through a doorway before we were stopped by some guy.

I stiffened up when his eyes widened in recognition. "Kim?" He called.

Ash leaned down to whisper in my ear. "You know this guy?"

The man grinned over at me, approaching us. "Kim! It's me, Finch, remember? You're in a wheelchair now? That's new. But you haven't changed a bit. Your face is still kiddish, your hair's still short…" he looked me up and down, eyes lingering on my chest. "Well, those are new too," he purred, stepping closer and reaching towards my chest.

Ash smacked his hand away. "Touch her and I'll tear your hand off."

"Hey buddy, mind keeping your hands to yourself? Joker growled, limping to stand beside me, Ashley staring the guy down.

He raised his hands in defense. "Whoa there, easy," he laughed. "Me and Kim go way back. She used to be our gang's mascot," he glanced down at me. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your new friends Kim? What would Ryan say if he saw you acting this way?" Finch mocked. I glared at him. "Fine, why don't the four of us go see Shepard? She's doing me a favor over at Choras Den."

"I find that hard to believe," Ashley muttered, wheeling me behind the creep. Joker limped quicker now, staying beside me. All three of us watched Finch with dark expressions on our faces.

I was so angry I couldn't even speak. The last time I saw that guy was a day before Sabrina took me to meet Damian, and Finch had beat me up for absolutely no reason. He said it was to keep me in my place, and that was the only reason Ryan hadn't shot him in the face for it.

Finch was the only one that beat me that didn't get shot. And that was only because he did a lot of good work for Ryan.

But thinking about the gang now, it just made me angry. Ryan had always been such a prick. All of them had been sadistic fuckers, and Sabrina was the only one that actually cared about me. Sure, Ryan used to tell me shit like how he was my big bro… but he didn't raise me. Sabrina did.

And Sabrina would have shot Finch for laying a finger on me.

"You still holding a grudge on me?" Finch questioned as Ash pushed me along. "Man, Shepard spoiled you way too much."

I refused to answer. Finally we entered Choras Den, saw Sabrina talk to a turian. "-named Finch wanted me to use my authority as a Spectre to free Curt Weissman."

"The xenophobe? I should have known he'd have friends," the turian sighed. "Thank you for the information. We'll increase the guard on his cell."

Finch clenched his fists and charged up to Sabrina. "I knew you'd rat us out Shepard!" he shouted. "Now it's payback time. When we're through telling our story, the aliens will all know what the first human Spectre really is!"

Sabrina pulled out her pistol and raised an eyebrow at Finch. "You know, I never liked you." She pulled the trigger, shooting the asshole right in the face. She holstered her gun and grinned down at Finch's dead body.

And then I rolled over it with my wheelchair.


	13. What She Could Do

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 13: What She Could Do  
~*~

Sabrina had been spending a few days doing some things for her teammates. Sadly I didn't get to help out as much. Recently I'd been seeing Karen every few hours to exercise my legs, make them stronger.

Sadly, being a pilot didn't really make me the most active person on the Normandy.

I jogged lightly on the treadmill, Karen taking notes beside me. I felt a dull pain in my legs, mostly from the exercise than from the injury. Medi-gel really did do wonders, it'd been six days since I'd been shot and I'd been feeling a lot better.

Especially after me, Moreau, and Ash went for pizza. That was a fun day; helped heal my soul.

Karen passed me a water bottle as the treadmill slowed, and I carefully got off of it. "Thanks," I smiled, unscrewing the lid and taking a swig of water. "So Doc, am I almost fully healed?"

"You're recovering very well," Karen told me with a nod. "Your legs are nearly back to normal, the scars should fade quickly with a couple more doses of medi-gel," The doctor noted. "However, Shepard suggested you have a few therapy sessions."

I scoffed. "Therapy? Really?"

"You ran over a dead body with your wheelchair," Chakwas chuckled. "Besides that, you almost died a week ago and recently you've had a tendency to zone out. Shepard believes it's because of trauma, so, we're going to have a few therapy sessions."

"I'm fine," I reassured. Chakwas crossed her arms. "Really, I mean, trauma? I'm perfectly normal. Besides! Sabrina gets shot all the time and you don't give her therapy sessions."

"Shepard's orders," Chakwas concluded, turning away. "I expect you here in three hours. Return to your station, Officer Kogan."

I groaned but complied, exiting the med bay and gloomily walking up the stairs that led to the CIC. Sabrina forced me into therapy.

I was not happy.

Heading into the cockpit, I made sure the sound of my boots stomping against the metal flooring was extra loud so Joker knew I was back.

"I'm guessing you didn't have fun with Chakwas today," Moreau guessed, turning his head to look at me as I plonked myself down in my seat. "What happened?"

"Sabrina suggested to Chakwas that I needed therapy sessions," I answered grumpily. Turning on my screen, I brushed my fingers over the aero-gel controls to see where we were heading. "Why are we going to the Herschel system?" I questioned the pilot curiously. It seemed kind of random, I mean, we still hadn't gone to Feros like the Council suggested. This last week kind of felt like Sabrina was purposely putting off our mission in favor of helping a ton of other people out. Yesterday we'd flown to the planet Tuntau in the Argos Rho cluster to reclaim Wrex's family armor, and the day before that Sabrina had gotten us to go to the Armstrong Nebula so she could destroy some geth outposts for Admiral Hackett.

Well, I supposed she'd also helped Tali by destroying the geth outposts, and I also couldn't complain about the destroying of geth. Sabrina found some data, and Tali told me that she was going to use it to complete her pilgrimage once all of this was over. It had been a productive week, at least team bonding wise. The only one that didn't really interact with the rest of us was Liara.

"Today's help Vakarian day," Joker told me bluntly. "He seems angrier than usual. If you ask me, that guy needs therapy. You're fine."

"Thank you!" I exclaimed. "Well, sucks for Garrus but still. I don't get why I was the only one on this team that's supposed to go through therapy."

Joker smirked. "Plus, that guy you ran over with your wheelchair last week? Asshole deserved it. I'm just disappointed that you waited until after he was dead."

I grinned. "Too bad I didn't shoot him. Oh, you know what I wish we'd gotten to see? Ash tearing his hand off!"

"That would have been fun," Joker chuckled, then turned serious. "But CP, if this therapy thing doesn't work out… not that you need to talk to someone," he fixed his hat and looked away with a glare. "But if you want to, I'm here."

A blush dusted my cheeks at his offer, and I grinned sheepishly. "Well, thanks for the offer Jeff, but I'm fine." I felt a sharp pain through my chest when I realized that I might have been lying. Joker jumped a bit, surprised.

"CP, little bit informal there," he scolded.

I thought back and clapped my hands against my mouth. "Oh my god I'm so sorry Moreau! It just slipped out, I swear. Your name tastes like poison on my tongue!" I stammered. "Okay, you know what? I've been pretty distracted lately. Maybe this therapy thing is a good idea!" I decided with a nod. Joker rolled his eyes.

"You need therapy because you called me by my first name?" he questioned me with amusement. I nodded frantically. "Don't worry about it, it was a mistake. Would you feel better if I called you Kim once to make it even?"

"No Moreau!" I shook my head. "This is the only way I'll be able to accept the fact that Sabrina's making me go to therapy, do me a favor and don't make it even!"

"You're such a weirdo."

Our conversation died, and inwardly I scolded myself. I really was zoning out a lot lately, slipping up. No wonder Sabrina mentioned it to Karen.

…I guess the zoning out did start (or at least get worse) after I'd been shot. And seeing Finch again just made things worse. Most of the time I tried so hard to forget about my time in the gang, but seeing Finch again brought a lot of painful memories back. Earlier in the week I'd been so out of it that I'd almost taken some of the dextro chilli.

Luckily Garrus was there and snatched it away from me, and I was able to play it off as me being curious.

Letting out a sigh, I placed a fist against my forehead as I thought. Maybe Sabrina was right. Maybe talking to Karen would help. I wasn't about to blurt everything out to Moreau, even if he was being nice about it… Maybe I'd talk to Ash about it. She'd been shot a lot in the past, and she also had a traumatic experience with Geth. Heck, I could even talk to Tali about it.

Returning my hands to the aero-gel controls, I smiled to myself and shook my head. I found it pretty funny how quickly I went from unwilling to willing patient.

Then I got sick of the silence and spoke up. "So, how long till we get to the coordinates?" I questioned the pilot.

"Can't you check it yourself?"

"I could," I shrugged. "But I wanted to make your life difficult."

Joker smirked and shook his head. "We'll be there in about fifteen minutes."

"Cool. So, what's Sabrina doing for Garrus?" I inquired. For the last week I'd barely been in the cockpit. The only reason I'd heard about all of Sabrina's side missions was because Tali and Ash kept me updated on things.

Joker sighed, adjusting his hat and turning his head to look at me. "Well, Shepard didn't tell me everything, but apparently there's this salarian… Dr. Saleon or something, and he did some messed up shit on the Citadel a while ago. Garrus has been tracking him ever since."

I pondered that for a moment. "So… Garrus basically had a nemesis and he never let it go?"

"Well, that's what I understood," Moreau shrugged. "Figures Vakarian would hold a grudge if this guy escaped. The guy's always searching for his own form of justice. He's like a Turian Batman, except he actually kills people. Oh, and he doesn't wear a cape."

With that image in my mind, I let out a giggle. "I have got to tell Sabrina that. And we still haven't figured out what kind of fruit Garrus is."

"Kiwano," Joker answered bluntly. "You'll see."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, no. He's not that angry."

The sound of heavy, armored footsteps clanged behind us. I turned to see Sabrina, Garrus, and Wrex were standing by the decontamination chamber, waiting for us to dock. I gave Moreau puppy dog eyes, the pilot shooing me away in response.

"Go talk to Shep," he sighed. I beamed at him before jumping out of my chair and practically skipping over to the ground team.

"Sabrina! What are you guys doing?" I asked her, the commander placing an armored hand on my head and grinning.

"Taking care of one of Garrus's old friends," she explained. "Well, an old enemy. Not really much of a friend."

Garrus crossed his arms, and for once I was able to see what Joker had been telling me. He had this sort of… glint in his eye, like simmering anger, but controlled. "Saleon is a monster, we're going to get him."

I'd hate to see Garrus if he lost control.

I hugged Sabrina's arm and grinned up at her childishly. "So, earlier in the week Ash, Moreau and I were comparing everyone to fruit, and I thought I'd ask you for your opinion on the matter."

Sabrina raised an eyebrow. "Okay… what fruit did you compare me to?"

I scoffed. "You're obviously a dragonfruit."

The commander nodded in approval. "Good, you didn't give me a lame fruit. So, what'd you need?"

Eyes wandering to Garrus for a moment, I returned my gaze to Sabrina and stood on my toes to whisper in her ear. "Is Garrus a lychee or a kiwano?" I pulled away to see Sabrina giving me a look of disbelief. "What?" I pouted.

"Kimmy, he is obviously a pomegranate," Sabrina stated loudly before whispering in my ear to explain. "He's tough on the outside, but inside it's a bunch of tasty seeds. A fight to get through, but so worth it. He's a sweetie." She stepped away from me and placed her hands on her hips. "Well, now that I know what I am, and what Garrus is, I demand that you tell me what everyone else is!"

I beamed up at her and began listing everyone off. "Tali's a plum, Wrex is a grapefruit-"

"What's a grapefruit?" Wrex asked us, crossing his arms.

"Just as awesome as you," I answered quickly before continuing. "Joker's an unripened orange, I'm a strawberry, Ash is a tomato, and Kaidan is a peach."

"What about Liara?" Sabrina inquired. I got a bit pouty, crossing my arms and rolling my eyes.

"I don't know. She's a blueberry or something," I grumbled. Sabrina sighed and placed a hand on my head.

"Don't be like that Keys, she just lost her mother. Try to relate to her okay? I know you don't like her but…"

I raised my hands in defeat. "Yeah, okay, I get it!" I snapped, being immature. "Even though I never see her anyways, I'll be nicer."

"She'll never be able to look into Liara's eyes either," Wrex coughed. Garrus snickered.

"Shut up, I'm not that short," I grumbled.

Liara was lucky that she'd gotten so many years with her mother. I didn't even remember one year with mine. I didn't know her face, or what she did. I had absolutely nothing to remind me or tell me about my mother. At least Liara had like, a hundred or so years with hers.

So how was I supposed to relate to her in that way at all? The only family I had left was Sabrina, and she wasn't even related to me by blood…

But I'd be crushed if I lost her. If I lost Sabrina, I was certain that a part of me would die with her. She was the only family I had left, and if she died…

I wouldn't have anyone.

My shoulders sagged. If that was how Liara felt currently, then I couldn't keep up my childish attitude towards her. It would be cruel. "…I'll be nicer to her," I repeated. This time, I was being genuine about it.

Sabrina smiled down at me, removing her hand and giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. "That's my girl. I knew you'd see the light."

"But if she admits her undying love for you or anything like that, all bets are off," I stated bluntly. Sabrina looked confused at my comment, and I sighed. "She has a huge crush on you," I explained. "I'm surprised that you didn't notice."

Wrex let out a low chuckle. "All of us could see it Shepard."

Garrus shook his head. "Really Shepard?"

The commander stared at the three of us dumbly. "What have I done that would have made her start crushing on me? I've just been myself."

"That, Sabs, was your downfall," I replied with a sigh. "You're so nice, and interesting, and super cool. So Liara started crushing on you, and then your kindness just made the crush worse."

"But I'm with Kaidan," Sabrina told us, shaking her head and correcting herself. "I-I mean, I'm interested in Kaidan," she stuttered.

"I approve," I told her with a nod. "Come on Sabs, there's no reason he wouldn't like you back. You're amazing and there isn't a man in this universe that wouldn't be interested. Right guys?" I turned to the male aliens with my hands on my hips. Wrex grinned at me while Garrus focused his gaze on the ground awkwardly, letting out a cough.

Sabrina hugged me from behind, pinching my cheek. "Isn't this one a charmer? Obviously Kimmy here's the one that everyone'd love!"

I shoved her off when she began trying to plant sloppy kisses on my face. "Ew Sabs! Gross, back off," I laughed, the commander laughing along with me.

"Hey Commander? We're about to dock on the Fedele," Joker called from the cockpit. "And CP, Chakwas is wondering if you want to come down for your therapy session now since she's pretty much done her work."

"Oh good, you're not fighting against it," Sabrina noted, sounding relieved. I shot her a glare and she shrugged innocently. "You need it, Keys."

"Yeah, I know," I grumbled. Poking my head into the cockpit, I called out to Joker. "Tell Karen I'll be down in a few minutes!"

He gave me a thumbs up. "On it."

"Thank you," I sang. Before I headed down, I stopped to give Sabrina a hug. "Have fun taking down Dr. Saleon! And do me a favor and don't get hurt."

Sabrina bowed mockingly. "I will try my very hardest."

"As in, she'll come back with destroyed armor," Garrus chuckled. Wrex let out a loud laugh in response. Sabrina glared at him and punched him lightly on the arm.

"Very funny Vakarian," the commander grinned, slinging an arm over his shoulder and pulling him down slightly. "But watch your mouth! I'm still your commanding officer."

Leaving the three of them by the decontamination chamber, I began my trek to the med-bay. I was happy that I no longer needed help getting up and down the stairs. As fun as being carried by Kaidan or Ashley could be at times I did not like how long it took.

Karen smiled at me as I entered her office, the metal doors hissing open. "Welcome back Kim, how are you feeling?"

I shrugged. "Not too different from how I was feeling when I saw you before."

The doctor nodded and gestured to a nearby seat. I sat down in it, spinning around in it while Karen wrote a few things down on her clipboard. "So Kim, I'm just going to ask you a few questions to start up a conversation."

I leaned back in my chair. "Sure, ask away."

"So, how was shopping on Noveria?" Karen started with a smile. "Kaidan mentioned that you brought him and Wrex."

I sat up with excitement. "Oh yeah it was so much fun! And having Wrex with us ended up intimidating the shopkeeper so we got a discount!"

Karen laughed a bit. "It sounds wonderful. Then what?"

My boots shuffled against the floor and I looked up at the ceiling. "We went to the garage. And then I shot a geth full of bullets."

"Ah," Karen nodded, steering the conversation in another direction. "How was the Citadel?"

I grinned cheerily. "Well, me, Joker, and Ash went to a pizza place, and our server was pretty attractive. He even gave me his contact info… but I haven't messaged him," I shrugged sheepishly. "Then we went to meet Sabrina and the others at Choras Den…" my words drifted off and I went silent.

Beatings, darkness, fists slamming against the door. _"Let me out Finch! Let me out!"_

I winced. Finch brought back bad memories.

Karen wrote down a few notes on her clipboard, nodding and giving me a gentle smile. "We'll come back to that later. So Kim, why'd you want to become a pilot?"

I shrank in my seat slightly, looking to the side. "Because the offer to become a pilot was a lot better than being part of a gang for the rest of my life."

Karen leaned forward, a glint of curiosity in her teal eyes. "What if you were given the choice to be anything you wanted, what would you be?"

Closing my eyes, I lowered my head and began to think. I loved being a pilot. Flying was like a dream come true. I was off of Earth and even just being out of the Sol System made me feel like I was across the universe. Even on the ship there was so many things I liked to do other than flying… I liked cooking with the others and hanging out, checking on things in the cockpit with Joker, even helping Karen out in the med bay. But… I hadn't really been given many choices when I was younger. Damian and Sabrina pushed me towards flight school, the gang pushed me towards stealing, hacking, and sneaking around which led to me getting some infiltrator training with the Alliance. It was just that…

Well, all of it was fun. I enjoyed all of it, even the stealing admittedly. It wasn't like I disliked what I did… I disliked why I did some things, but never actually doing them. If I was given the choice though, I knew I'd still want to join the Alliance. No matter what, I'd want to be near Sabrina…

But was that limiting my options? Maybe I could have been a chef, or a shopkeeper, or I could have gone to school and become a doctor.

I took a deep breathe, opening my eyes and gazing at Karen sadly.

"I don't know," I told her honestly.


	14. Feros

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 14: Feros  
~*~

That night, I'd slept in Sabrina's quarters. She'd insisted upon it, since we hadn't gotten to have a sleep over since we were kids. Luckily, our sleepover didn't involve braiding hair (not that mine was long enough even) or doing make up.

We actually slept!

Of course, Sabrina was a blanket hog but I liked sleeping all sprawled out on my front. So it was kind of even. Kind of.

I awoke when I heard the click of a picture being taken, and I tiredly blinked my eyes open to see Sabrina already out of her pajamas and in her uniform, grinning over me and holding up a holo.

"Aww Kim! You're so cute, there's drool on your cheek!" she gushed. I shot upwards and wiped my face clean. "And send!" Sabrina cackled. I glared at her.

"Why are you being evil when I'm just waking up?" I growled darkly.

It wasn't that I wasn't a morning person… I just didn't appreciate pictures being taken of me while I was sleeping. Or when I was drooling.

Sabrina whistled innocently. "I just wanted everyone to see how cute my baby sister is," she told me, tackling me back into bed and smiling ear to ear. "So I sent the pic to Tali-"

I shoved her off of me and jumped out of bed, staring at her, horrified. "What?! You sent a pic of me drooling to my Love?!"

"But you were so cute!" Sabrina pouted. Then she smiled evilly. "Oh, and I sent it to Ashley, Kaidan, Garrus, and Wrex."

"I fucking hate you," I sighed, stomping over to my uniform and shrugging it on quickly. "I will never sleep in your room with you ever again."

Sabrina gasped dramatically and placed a hand on her chest, as if I'd stabbed her. "I'm sorry. I'll delete it now and make sure everyone else deletes the holo too. Look!" she opened up her omni-tool and showed me as she deleted the embarrassing photo. I smiled.

"Thanks Sabs," I told her softly. "But if you ever do something like that to me again, I'm telling everyone about the time back in the Reds when you tried to eat that-"

"No!" Sabrina yelped, jumping out of bed. "Never speak of it again! I'm going to go and delete that photo off of everyone's omni-tools before you ruin my reputation."

I beamed up at her. "You don't need my help to ruin your reputation Sabs. I'm certain you do that enough yourself... Remember that time you hung up on the Council?"

"Oh shush, you," Sabrina ruffled my hair. "Okay, I'm heading down to the storage deck to delete everyone's holos. You go up to the cockpit and plot a course from here to Feros," she ordered. I saluted mockingly before leaving her quarters and heading up to the cockpit. I waved at Pressly as I passed by him.

"Officer Kogan," he greeted with a nod. I smiled at him brightly.

"Could I ask you where Sabrina had us drifting while I wasn't on shift?" I asked the navigator.

He smiled down at me and nodded. "We just refueled at the station in the Dakka System," Pressly told me kindly.

I nodded. "Awesome, Nubian Expanse. Shouldn't take us too long then," I muttered to myself before smiling back at Pressly. "Thank you Pressly! I'll see you later."

Since we were in the Dakka System, we'd only need to make one FTL jump from the Dakka Relay to the Hercules Relay in the Attican Beta Cluster.

The older man nodded in response, returning to his work while I hurried to the cockpit to tell Moreau where Sabrina wanted to go. Sneaking up on the pilot, I plucked his hat off his head and placed it on mine.

"Good morning Moreau," I chirped. He glanced up at me with a smirk, reaching up and taking his hat back.

"Morning," he nodded, returning his hat to its rightful place: atop his horrible hat hair. "And before you start bugging me about it, I slept."

"I did too, in a real bed," I bragged, throwing myself into my seat and dancing my fingers across the controls. "Anyways, Sabrina wants us to go to Feros. Just jump from the Dakka Relay to the Hercules Relay, and we should be landing on Feros in about half an hour."

"Think you can keep your eyes open when we make the FTL jump this time?" Moreau questioned me lightly. My hands faltered, aero-gel flickering slightly as my hands passed through it. I turned my head to look at the pilot with slightly widened eyes.

"What?" I choked out. He noticed that I didn't like FTL?

Joker smirked. "CP, I see you cringe every time we hit a relay," he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "It got kind of obvious. But you know, it's weird that you dislike it considering how long you've been a pilot."

"I'm a co-pilot," I argued weakly. Joker's smirk grew into a grin. "And… it's just because FTL on the Normandy feels different than FTL on other ships!" I explained.

Joker nodded understandingly, but with a glint of mischief in his green orbs. "Yeah, this ship might just be a bit too much for your average pilot to handle-"

I shot him a glare. "Hey-!" I interjected, annoyed.

"-Lucky for you, I'm not average," Moreau finished, giving me a thumbs up and a cheeky grin. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

"Did you seriously just go there Moreau?" I grumbled, scowling. "You, my friend, are a jerk. I am a splendid pilot-"

Moreau laughed. "Co-pilot," he corrected, eyes sparkling with amusement.

"_-Co-pilot." _I hissed out, "And I could totally whoop your ass flying this ship. You know, if you actually let me fly for more than just a couple minutes at a time."

Giving me an amused expression, the pilot shrugged and looked back at the controls "Of course you could CP. Of course you could," he soothed.

Mockingly.

I sulked in my seat, pouting. I was totally going to get back at him for this later.

Joker practically beamed at me when he spoke up once again. "I'll be sure to warn you before we hit the relays so you can close your eyes."

Definitely going to get back at him.

Before I could snap back at him with some half-assed comment, Sabrina stepped into the cockpit "Kim, Joker. We heading to Feros now?"

"Just about to make the relay jump." Joker told her. He flicked on the comm to transmit to the rest of the ship, so he could let everyone know we were going FTL. "Dakka relay is in range. Initiating transmission sequence." Joker called over the comm. Green lights began to flicker across my screen. "We are connected. Calculating transit mass and destination," Moreau turned his head to look at me. "CP, how're we doing?"

I glided my fingers across the panels before giving Joker a thumbs up and a nod. Things were looking good.

Moreau nodded in return, returning his gaze to his screen. "Relay is hot. Acquiring approach vector."

Green began flashing all over my screen, letting me know that everyone was ready to go. "All stations secure for transit." I announced. "Sabs, you might want to hold onto something."

Sabrina nodded, grabbing on to the back of my seat.

"Board is green. Approach run has begun." Joker spoke calmly. "Oh, and CP?" I turned to see him grinning at me cheekily "Might want to close your eyes now."

I cringed, shutting my eyes tightly and gripping the arms of my seat. Inwardly I fumed, hearing Moreau and Sabrina let out chuckles and giggles at my response.

"Hitting the relay in 3…2…1…" Moreau counted down.

I held my breath as we hit the relay, only releasing it a few seconds after we left FTL speeds. I shook off the wave of dizziness that came with the FTL jump.

"That's all folks, we'll be landing in about twenty minutes," Joker announced before shutting off the main comm. "So CP, what was that I just saw you doing? Closing your eyes during FTL?" he teased lightly, looking as happy as Santa Claus.

"I know. I know. You're a fantastic pilot." I grumbled, scowling. "Just give me a little bit more time with this ship and then I'll be able to keep my eyes open, and then I'm going to whoop your ass Moreau."

"Sure you will," he chuckled, tapping a few buttons on his controls. "Everything look good on your screen?"

I checked quickly, taking in all the information at record speed before nodding at the older man. "Yup! You?"

"Board is green," he drawled. Sabrina patted my head.

"Nice work you two, I'm going to go decide who I'm taking with me onto Feros," the commander told us, making her way out.

"So Kim, how have your therapy sessions been going?" he asked me as soon as Sabrina exited the cockpit.

I smirked. "Considering that Karin can mute the cameras in the med-bay so you can't listen in and find out for yourself, I'm going to tell you that they've been going splendidly. And you'll never be the wiser."

Joker rolled his eyes. "What do you guys even talk about anyways?"

"We talk about which male on the ship would look the prettiest in Lolita fashion," I told him confidently. The pilot smiled at my answer, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Okay, I'll back off," he sighed, turning on his headset. "Hey Commander, you might want to let your teammates for Feros know that they should go and wait by the decontamination chamber. Shouldn't be too long now."

I linked my headset to his comm link and joined in the conversation. "Hey Sabs, who you taking with you this time?"

"_Peaches and Tomato," _Sabrina answered.

Joker let out a snort. "I'm sorry, can you repeat that Shepard?"

I heard Sabrina huff on the other end. _"Unripened Orange, I said that I'm bringing Peaches and Tomato with me onto Feros. And you can call me Commander Dragonfruit."_

I couldn't even talk because I was laughing so hard. Joker himself was also laughing hysterically, in complete disbelief that his commander was referring to everyone by their fruit personalities.

"Damn it Shepard, you're hilarious," Joker said in between laughs. "Please, just… wow. I don't even know what to say."

"_Commander Dragonfruit out!" _Sabrina cackled. It took me a few minutes to finally calm down, but thankfully I did. If I laughed any longer, I might have died.

"Okay, okay," I took a few deep breaths. "Okay, I'm going to head on down to the second deck and grab myself some water. I'll grab you coffee because I highly doubt that you slept very long, okay?" I stood up and poked Joker's arm. He looked up at me and nodded.

"Sure, okay. I'm not stopping you," Joker smiled. "Just try and hail the Feros Colony so we can land before you go."

I sighed dramatically, but returned to my seat to do as he asked. "This is the SSV Normandy requesting clearance to land," I spoke, calmly and clearly.

No one answered.

My head tilted slightly sideways in confusion, I repeated myself. "SSV Normandy requesting clearance to land. Feros Colony, is anyone there? Hello?" I tapped my earpiece a few times, but still there was no response. I stood up and leaned against Joker's seat, bored… and slightly worried. "Yeah Moreau? I'm not getting any response. I think… maybe it might be because of the geth," I mumbled. "I mean, we heard that geth were spotted on the planet so... yeah. If they aren't responding that's the first thing that comes to mind."

Joker's brow furrowed. "Let me try," he activated his comm. "Normandy to Feros Colony, requesting clearance…" He slumped against his seat, closing his eyes and letting out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, that's weird. Well, Shepard can deal with that I guess. And it might not be the geth CP, maybe their communications are just on the fritz right now. Go and grab your water, I'll land the ship."

I felt a bit of dread sink into my chest.

What if the geth killed everyone on Feros? What if-

"CP, they're probably fine," Joker grinned. "Stop looking so worried. Humans are tough, got it?"

"Says the one with brittle bones," I mused, letting a small smile grace my lips. "Okay, I'll trust you. Be back in a bit… as long as I don't get distracted by anyone!"

"I'll see you in a few years then," the pilot quipped. I exited the cockpit and headed down to the crew deck, feeling a lot lighter.

Joker was a good friend. The fact that he noticed me start panicking and stopped it before I freaked out… I really didn't give him enough credit sometimes.

But I guess it was fine, because most of the time he gave himself a bit too much credit.

I giggled to myself, my boots clanging heavily against the steps. Entering the mess hall, I froze when I spotted a certain Asari sitting alone at one of the tables. Hearing my footsteps, she turned with a hopeful expression.

And that hopeful look twisted into distaste when she realized it was me, and not a different human.

She was probably hoping that I as Sabrina.

That thought made a frown appear on my face, but I quickly switched it to a smile and waved at the blue-skinned alien stiffly. "Hello," I greeted.

Her expression turned puzzled, likely confused as to why I had greeted her. After all, my first words to her specifically hadn't exactly been the kindest. "Hello," she responded suspiciously. I let out a sigh, taking the seat next to her and deciding to do Sabrina's bidding and try to get along.

"I'm sorry that I yelled at you on the comm and that your mom died," I stated bluntly. Liara winced. I winced. "Sorry, I'm not exactly the most tactful all the time," I laughed awkwardly.

Liara nodded. "Yes… I noticed that."

Well, this was definitely one of the most awkward situations I had ever put myself in. The two of us sat in silence for a few minutes, and finally I was ready to give up. I pushed myself up out of the chair.

"I was just down here to grab something to drink anyways," I coughed. "Nice talking to you."

"Wait!" Liara cried, grabbing my wrist. I froze, stiffening up. Liara quickly let go. "Thank you, I just… I don't really understand humans very much, but it was nice of you to apologize." A blue blush dusted her cheeks. "Shepard said you would eventually, but… I didn't believe her. She was right though," the asari's eyes softened at the mention of my sister, and my eyes hardened.

I nodded stiffly. "You're welcome," I forced out, running a hand through my short hair. Guess I had to break the news to her. "And look, about Sabrina… you know she likes Kaidan right?"

Liara's face fell, and I felt like I had just kicked a puppy in the face. "What?"

I shifted uncomfortably. "You like her, I get that, really I do," I sighed. "Sabrina's amazing, she's kind and funny. I just…" God I felt horrible. "I don't want to see anyone get hurt," I told her seriously. "Which is why I'm letting you know how Shepard feels now before things go too far."

She stared up at me, eyes wide and shocked and hurt. I bit my lip. "O-oh, well, thank you for telling me Officer Kogan," she choked out, standing up. "I'm going to lay down for a bit. It was nice talking to you."

"I'm sorry," I muttered as she walked away.

Why didn't I just let Sabrina shatter her heart into a thousand pieces?

I distracted myself for a few moments by getting myself some water and a cup of coffee for Joker. My shoulders were slumped as I re-entered the cockpit, the pilot spinning his seat around to face me as I let out a loud sigh. "Wow CP, you look depressed," he commented, taking the coffee from me. "Thanks."

"I broke Blueberry's heart," I revealed as Joker went to take a sip of his beverage. "Blueberry meaning Liara."

Joker spat out his coffee in shock. "Wait, what?" he choked out, wiping his mouth with his arm. "What happened now? I thought she liked Shepard, never would have guessed that she liked you after the whole 'Bitch do you want to fight me' thing."

I recoiled in shock. "Okay, now we're not on the same page. I just told her about the whole Sabrina liking Kaidan thing and that's what broke her heart."

Moreau blinked. "Oh."

I took a sip of my water and sighed. "When I told her, I felt like I kicked a puppy Moreau. I mean, I don't like her but I just didn't want her to keep pining after Sabs only to get shot down," I explained, leaning against the nearby wall.

Joker looked a bit conflicted, pulling his hat over his eyes and grimacing. "In my opinion-"

Our comms blared. "_Why the hell didn't you warn us about her driving?!" _Kaidan's voice shouted through our earpieces. Joker winced at the volume while I jumped, spilling most of my water onto my uniform.

"Aw shit," I glowered. "Damn you Alenko! You deserve all the suffering Sabrina's driving brings you!" I shouted back through the comm.

Joker chuckled. "You made her spill her drink Kaidan," the pilot explained.

Sabrina's voice rang through our earpieces. "_Kim? Do you think the Mako would survive ramming into an…" _she paused, and I flinched when I heard a crashing sound. _"Oh never mind, we're fine," _the commander almost sang.

"_You just rammed us into the Armature!" _Ashley cried in disbelief. I could almost imagine them, letting Sabrina drive and sitting all pale and sickly. _"Are you trying to kill us Commander?!"_

"_We're all alive, aren't we?" _Sabrina laughed over the comm. _"Woohoo!" _she cheered.

I pulled at my soaking shirt, sighing and beginning to pull it off. No way was I going to stay in a wet uniform.

"Uh, CP?" Joker gulped, tugging on his shirt collar and averting his gaze. I raised an eyebrow.

"Relax Moreau, I'm wearing a tank top under this," I stated dryly. "What, did you really think I'd strip in front of you if I wasn't wearing something underneath? But if you're feeling that awkward," I pulled Joker's hat down over his eyes before tugging my soaked shirt off and hanging it up to dry. "I aint going back down to deck two for a dry shirt! I was just there."

"_Ooh, is the thought of Kim topless too much for you to handle Joker?" _Ash teased over the comm. I snickered, returning to my seat.

"I think the Normandy's the only girl he'd be able to handle," I joked.

"_The unripened orange and the strawberry," _Sabrina cackled. _"Peaches, Tomato! Look what I can do!"_

"_Shit, Skipper!" _Ash screamed._ "You're driving too close to the edge!"_

"_It's Commander Dragonfruit. Damn it you guys, it doesn't work if I'm the only one referring to you by your fruits!"_

I blinked and tilted my head towards Joker. "Did Kaidan pass out or something?"

"_Just trying to keep myself from throwing up, Strawberry Shortcake," _the biotic answered, Sabrina letting out a cheer at the word 'strawberry'. _"And sorry for making you spill your drink."_

"It's okay," I grinned.

"For the record, I've handled my fair share of women," Joker piped up grumpily.

I snickered. "Yet you get flustered when I'm changing in front of you."

Joker leaned back, eyeing me lazily. "You've seen me fly this ship CP. You've gotta admit that I'm good with my hands."

Before I could point out that I was just as good, Ash cut me off.

"_Man Joker, I'm surprised you haven't denied your attraction to Kim yet. I mean, I've been implying it this whole time."_

My eyes blinked in confusion. "Wait… that was what she was implying? I didn't catch that."

Moreau laughed. "Come on Williams, CP's too short for me. I'm more into tall beautiful blondes."

"_But Kim's so cute," _Sabrina whined. _"Okay, putting this thing in park, let's go check out that place!"_

"_Finally, she's not driving anymore," _Kaidan sighed in relief.

"_We'll call you guys later!" _Sabrina told us before hanging up.

I let out a yawn, stretching my arms above my head. "Well, I'm tired again. Here's hoping that they don't let Sabrina drive for the rest of the mission."

Joker shrugged. "We're docked, so I don't care if you nap."

The two of us sat in silence for a bit, my eyes starting to get a bit droopy. It didn't help that the ship was so quiet, and that Joker wasn't talking to me. I vaguely registered Joker saying… something to me before I dozed off.

Only to wake up a couple hours later to the sound of something banging against the ships window.

"Uh, so the colonists of Zhu's Hope are kind of trying to claw their way onto the ship… The Commander says to just stay inside and keep the colonists out," Joker awkwardly spoke over the comm. I opened my eyes, drowsy, and let out a groan. The pilot glanced at me and smiled. "Hey CP, check out all the colonists." Joker told me, pointing out our windows for me to see numerous humans throwing rocks and other such things at the Normandy.

Obviously it wasn't very effective, our kinetic barriers were more than strong enough to defend against their pathetic attempts to break in.

But I felt my stomach drop seeing their slightly crazed expressions.

Shaking my head, I sighed. "Okay, Sabrina has to stop taking us to all these crazy places. Can't we just land on a planet and find something normal? Like a bunny, bunnies are cute."

"If we found a bunny, then I'd be worried it was a man-eating bunny or something," Moreau shuddered.

We conversed and laughed about numerous crazy things that could probably happen with Sabrina as our commander, and about an hour later the colonists stopped throwing things at the ship, looking dazed. Not too long after that, I checked the security footage to see Sabrina in the decontamination chamber with the others.

"So Moreau, think that they're ever going to let Sabs touch the mako again after experiencing her crazy driving first hand?" I questioned the scruffy man.

Just as I'd finished my sentence Sabrina stepped into the cockpit with Kaidan by her side. "What was that about my driving, Flight Officer?"

I looked back at her innocently. "Nothing, nothing. You're a very… creative driver."

Kaidan chuckled, but I noted that he looked a few shades paler than usual. "That's one way to put it."

Joker rolled his eyes at us while the two of us laughed. "Thank god you weren't using the Normandy's Mako. Means that Garrus and Tali don't need to make the repairs," the pilot stated bluntly.

"Pfft. All they'll need to do is slap some Omni-gel on it," Sabrina scoffed, waving it off like it was no big deal.

Ashley coughed, entering the cockpit. "Maybe swap out all of the parts too. Exogeni's going to be pissed when they see that piece of scrap metal."

Sabrina crossed her arms and glared at the soldier. "Care to repeat that, Gunnery Chief?"

I stood up and nudged Ashley in the side. "…Did you take a holo?" I asked her.

The soldier winked down at me. "I'll send it to you later," she whispered.

Soon I would have my revenge.

Joker coughed loudly to get our attention. "Hey Commander, next time we touch down let's try not to park the ship in a colony of mutant zombies. Just thinking out loud here."

Not too long after that everyone cleared out so Sabrina could brief everyone on what happened in the conference room. I leaned back comfortably, helping Joker prepare for takeoff.

"Hey Moreau," I started. "I think you were trying to tell me something before I dozed off before. Mind telling me what you said?"

He raised an eyebrow. "CP, what are you even talking about?"

I shook my head. "Never mind, must have been a weird dream thing or something."


	15. Karaoke

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 15: Karaoke  
~*~

After Feros, the Council had told Shepard they had some sensitive information for her and that we'd have to go to the Citadel to get it.

Really, I figured that they just didn't want to get hung up on again. Talking to Sabrina by comm link was incredibly unreliable.

"Keys! Change out of your Alliance fatigues and into normal clothes so we can head out!" Sabrina shouted, pushing me into her quarters before tapping her foot impatiently.

And since we were going to be at the Citadel anyways, Sabrina decided that today was the day she'd take us all out for karaoke.

And she outright refused to let me be seen in military issued fashion.

"Obviously Wrex would refuse to take off his armor so he can stay in his, and Tali needs to wear her enviro-suit, but that doesn't mean that we need to look like we're military," Sabrina stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And I haven't been able to dress you up since you were a kid, so I'm taking full advantage of this situation," Sabrina announced.

I sighed, but allowed it. I now had a holo of the damage she'd caused to a mako, and I could use that in the future to get her to do my bidding. And besides, I didn't mind wearing different clothes. Sabrina herself was wearing black leggings and a navy hoodie, and I didn't want her to be the only one looking normal.

I dug through Sabrina's drawers to find something to wear, and breathed a sigh of relief when I felt denim. "Awesome, civilian clothes that don't look like rags," I joked, taking out a pair of blue capris (which I guessed Sabrina had bought especially for me, because I checked the tag and it was my size and not hers). "Just this and a tank top should be okay, right Sabs?"

"At least until I get you a dress."

"No." Dresses weren't really my thing.

"There's a T-shirt on the left side," Sabrina advised. I

I changed quickly and followed Sabrina up to the Command Deck to see Kaidan, Ash, Liara, Wrex, and Tali already there, standing by the galaxy map.

"Where's Garrus?" Sabrina asked them.

Our quarian friend placed a hand on her hip. "Vakarian didn't want to join us."

Sabrina's face darkened. "Well, I guess I'll have to convince him then."

"How are you going to do that?" I inquired, leaning against a nearby panel. "And where's Moreau?"

"Joker said he'll come when we're all ready. He didn't want to stand around and wait for everyone," Ash shrugged. "Makes sense though."

Sabrina opened her omni-tool to access Garrus's contact info. "Hey, Officer Pomegranate?"

"_You're still calling me that?" _Garrus sighed. _"What did you need, Shepard?"_

"Come with us to karaoke, and I'll stop calling you Officer Pomegranate."

There was a pause on the other end. _"I'll be right up."_

Ash and I let out a cheer, high-fiving. I gave Sabrina a thumbs up. "Great job Sabs!"

"Yeah Skipper, didn't think you'd be able to convince him so easily," Ash agreed. "But doesn't Vakarian kind of owe you for the whole 'Doctor Saleon' thing?"

"I'm saving that card for future play," the commander explained. "Kim! Go grab Joker, we can wait for Garrus outside."

"Wait for who now?" Garrus interrupted, coming up from the staircase.

Sabrina sighed. "Is the lift only slow for me?" The rest of us smiled at her and she shook her head. "Okay, let's all go to the decontamination chamber."

I eyed our group. "Sabs, it's going to be cramped," I stated bluntly. "You guys can go ahead, I'll go and grab Moreau."

Ash grabbed Tali and pulled me into a one armed hug. "We'll stick with Kim, Skipper! Why don't you guys start heading to the karaoke place and get a room for us? I'll bet that by having Wrex with you, we'll get a great room."

Sabrina scoffed. "What, and me being the first human Spectre won't?"

Kaidan placed a hand on my sister's shoulder, and I noticed Liara's expression darken at the innocent gesture. "Shepard, you can't always play that card," the man spoke gently. Sabrina sighed, visibly disappointed, but nodded.

"Okay, fine. We'll go on ahead," Sabrina sulked, taking Kaidan's hand and practically dragging him towards the decontamination chamber with everyone else following. Ash let out a whistle.

"Shepard breaks all the rules, right Kim?" Ash nudged me. "Her and Kaidan are a good match."

"The commander knows what she wants," Tali noted. I sighed.

"Too bad Liara can't accept it," I grumbled, running a hand through my short dark brown hair. "I wasn't the only one who spotted her face, right?"

"Don't worry Kim, we saw it too," Tali assured. "Keelah, she should know better."

I tapped a few buttons on my omni-tool, a tiny picture taking VI appearing in front of us. "Okay guys, let's begin recording this wonderful night. Say cheese!"

Quickly, I grabbed Tali's hands and kissed the side of her mask, Ashley laughing and placing a hand on my shoulder, pulling me off the cute quarian as soon as the photo was taken. "Come on Lover Girl," Ashley snickered. "We're supposed to get Joker, remember?"

"Aw, but look at this picture!" I whined, pulling up the holo from my omni-tool. It looked incredibly silly but cute. It even had Ashley in it laughing. The soldier ruffled my hair good-naturedly.

"Okay, it's cute. Tali, you okay?" Ashley questioned the girl, who shook off her shock.

"No, I mean yes, I mean…" Tali was very obviously flustered. "I'm fine. I was just surprised."

"I'll bet you're in love with me now," I sang, teasing her. Tali crossed her arms.

"I'm smiling under the mask," she told me. "Because you're so weird."

The three of us headed to the cockpit, with me letting them know to be quiet so we could take a sneaky holo with Moreau. They agreed, mostly to amuse me.

"What the-?" Moreau stared at my picture taking AI in confusion before the flash went off, with us girls posing goofily around his chair. He turned to glare at us. "What are you guys doing?"

"Preserving memories," I stated seriously. Then, I grinned. "Come on Moreau, Sabs already took everyone else to get a karaoke room! Let's go already!"

"Fine, fine," he took his crutches out from under the seat, pressing a button to extend them to the needed size. "So, what's the place called again? Pulse Karaoke?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Their private rooms have these little stages, and they offer dance mode!" I cheered excitedly. Sabs and I had looked it up together, and decided it was the perfect place to gather everyone and sing. "Plus, their song lists are extensive. As in, they have all the classics," I added with a wink.

"Exciting," Joker grunted, getting to his feet. "Okay, let's go."

It didn't take too long for the four of us to get to the place, Kaidan standing outside of the establishment and waving when he spotted us. "Hey guys, the others are already inside."

"Cool! Did Sabrina start looking at the song list?" I inquired. Kaidan smiled and nodded.

"She's already planning what some of us should sing," he told me.

"Cool, Kaidan! Picture time!" I announced, pulling him into a one armed hug. Joker and the others crowded around us for the picture, and after it was taken I pulled up the holo. "Awesome!"

"Looks nice," Kaidan approved. "Also, Sabrina's ordering drinks."

Ashley let out a whoop. "Skipper's treating us right tonight!"

Kaidan led us to the room we'd gotten, and I gaped. It was truly amazing. Dim blue lights lit the place up, and the stage had actual stage lights. There were about 4 mics ready for use, and a screen at the bottom edge of the stage for lyrics and dance moves. There was even a bar! Sabrina sat at one of the couches by the coffee table where a screen with the song list was, everyone else just lounging around. I started jumping up and down in excitement, Ashley and Kaidan laughing at my reaction.

"Kimmy!" Sabs cheered, waving. "Here, take a shot with me!"

I screwed up my face in disgust. "I hate shots Sabs. I hate them," I repeated. "Offer me mixed drink? Sure. But I don't do straight alcohol."

"I'll take a shot with you Skipper," Ashley called, walking over to the commander. The two of them downed their drinks together, laughing and happy. Joker took a seat, and I sat next to him and pulled up the song list.

"So, who's going first?" I asked. Everyone shrugged, Sabrina smirked mischievously, darting forward and snatching my hand.

"Let's do this Kim!" Sabrina decided. I raised an eyebrow and shook my head.

"Nope. Let's let some noobies go first, I don't want to scare anyone off," I stated bluntly. Sabs pouted, hugging me dramatically.

"Kimmy's being shy guys," Sabrina cried. "So I guess I'm starting."

The commander stepped onto the stage, pulling up the aero-gel menu and selecting a song. I began clapping when I recognized the guitar.

"I thought that I'd been hurt before, but no one's ever left me quite this sore," Sabrina started.

Stiches.

She didn't do much during the song, just staying in one place with the mic. Thankfully she didn't dance, and her voice was nice for the song.

Sabrina stepped off the stage once she was done, bowing. "Thank you! Thank you!" We all clapped, amused and starting to get into the mood for karaoke. Just that Sabrina's first song wasn't really enough to get all of us pumped up. I went towards the bar while everyone discussed who was going next, finding some rum and mixing it in with some Coca-Cola. Hesitating for a moment, I turned to the group.

"Anyone want me to mix them a drink?" I called. Wrex punched his fists together.

"If they have any Ryncol over there then mix me one!" the krogan requested. Ashley and Sabrina called for more shots, while Kaidan, Liara and Moreau shrugged and left the decision for what they'd be drinking to me. I got Garrus some Turian Brandy, got some vodka shots prepared for the girls, and mixed everyone else some rum and cokes.

And a Ryncol and coke for Wrex. With extra Ryncol because I didn't know how it worked.

While I got all the drinks ready, it was decided that Kaidan would sing next. Tali came over to help me bring the drinks over, and I took a picture of the two of us, just me smiling and both of us holding up the numerous drinks. "Can Quarian's drink alcohol?" I asked my friend, and she nodded.

"We just need to be very careful, filter the drink multiple times… that sort of thing," Tali shrugged.

"Ah, doesn't sound worth it," I replied. "Well, I'll just take this one drink and stop! That way you and me can be sober together," I exclaimed.

Didn't seem fair if Tali was the only one that didn't drink. We handed out the drinks, Wrex trying his and telling me that I mixed drinks like a Krogan. When I got to Kaidan he was still scrolling through the song lists. I sighed.

"Kaidan, sing 'Sugar' by Maroon 5. I think you'll rock it," I told the man confidently. He smiled up at me.

"You think so? Okay," he nodded, selecting it and heading to the stage. A lightbulb went off in my head and I snatched Ashley's arm.

"Kaidan select dance mode with backup singers!" I ordered, beaming down at Ash. "Let's dance!"

Ashley looked a bit surprised, but nodded and grinned back at me. "Sure," she agreed. The two of us ran onto the stage and laughed together as the song started.

This was totally Kaidan's song.

Sabrina pressed a few buttons on her omni-tool and I smiled brighter when I saw her start recording.

"I'm hurting baby… I'm broken down," Kaidan started a bit awkwardly. Ash and I began following the dance instructions, simple side to side steps and claps. "I need your lovin', your lovin' I need it now," the man sang more confidently, laughing a bit when Sabrina cheered loudly. "When I'm without you, I'm something weak. You got me begging, begging I'm on my knees."

The three of us certainly put on a show, with Ash and me occasionally messing up on the dance moves as they changed up and Kaidan totally rocking the high notes. When the song ended, all of us were grinning and laughing, the three of us coming together for a group hug and cheering in victory.

"Say cheese!" Sabrina clapped, the three of us grinning at her as she took a holo of us, me and Ash on the sides and Kaidan grinning in the middle of us. The rest of the group clapped as the score came up.

85%

High fives went around, and Sabs pushed me towards the stage. "Your turn! Time to show everyone what a real high score is."

I smirked. "Fine, just let me get a drink first. Dancing makes me tired," I turned to look at Garrus who was standing closer to the bar now. "Hey Vakarian! Toss me a water bottle?" He nodded, taking one from the mini fridge and tossing it to me. I had to lurch forward to catch it, and stumbled a bit before catching my balance. "Thanks Garrus!"

"No problem," the turian replied. I chugged the water, everyone else beginning to chat.

"Is Kim really that good?" Liara questioned my sister. Sabrina nodded confidently.

"She has a pretty voice," Sabrina announced, bragging about me. "Depending on the song, she won't even need to look at the lyrics."

"What are you going to sing Kim?" Ashley asked me. "Need a backup dancer?"

I shook my head. "Nah I got this Ash," I told her with a thumbs up and a smile. I was totally going to rock this. Taking a few deep breaths to calm me down, I glanced at Moreau, who was now sitting next to Kaidan. I walked up to him and snatched his hat off his head with a grin. "I'll need to borrow this," I explained. He rolled his eyes at me but smiled.

"This better be good CP. As in, either so good you get a standing ovation or so bad that I'll be able to laugh at you for days," the pilot stated. I stuck my tongue out at him and stomped onto the stage, selecting my song in freestyle dance mode.

"Ah la, un la la," I sang, placing the hat sideways on my head like an old school rapper. "Ah la, un, la la!"

"Yes!" Sabrina cheered, instantly recognizing my song choice. I didn't even need to look at the lyrics on the screen as I started singing.

"Met this girl late last year she said don't you worry if I disappear," I spun around and started moving to the beat. "I told her I'm not really looking for another mistake, called an old friend thinking that the trouble could wait." I jumped to the side. "But then I jumped right in a week later returned, I reckoned she was only looking for a lover to burn! But I gave her my time," I grinned, placing my other hand in front of me and putting two then three fingers up for the next part of the lyrics, "for two or three nights! Then I put it on pause until the moment was right," I pulled my hand back and flicked my head up.

Inwardly I cheered when everyone started nodding or clapping along to the beat. I knew this song by heart, and had practiced the little freestyle dance I was doing so many times with Sabrina when we were kids… too bad she couldn't do it too.

I kept singing confidently, walking off the stage and interacting with my 'audience', dancing with Garrus a bit, ruffling Moreau's hair… even spinning Tali around at one point. Really, I was just having fun. A ton of fun!

I returned to the stage only for the last bit, nodding my head along to the beat.

"Don't, with my love! That heart is so cold, all over my home… I don't wanna know that, babe!"

"Ah la, un la la!" Ash and Sabrina joined in.

I beamed. "Don't, with my love! I told her she knows, taking me home… I don't wanna know that babe! Ah la, un, la, la!" I finished, striking a pose.

I got a standing ovation.

And a score of 95.

Sabrina ran up to me and tackled me into a hug, taking a few pics. But after that song, I was out of energy. I practically collapsed next to Joker, laughing. He took his hat off my head and put it back on his.

"Nice job CP," he complimented. I grinned at him sheepishly. "So, when do you wanna do group mode with me?"

"After I'm done being dead," I answered between tired breaths.

I rested for quite a few songs. Sabrina sang The Lazy Song, Kaidan sang a couple more Maroon 5 songs. Ashley had been inspired by the soul song I had assigned her back when I was injured, and sang some Beetles songs. Liara even sang a couple Asari songs. And I convinced Tali to try singing some Taylor Swift.

It was adorable when she gave up, mostly because she didn't understand why the haters gunna hate hate hate hate hate.

The only two that outright refused to sing were Wrex and Garrus. Wrex because hearing a Krogan sing would be "a different kind of deadly" (his words) and Garrus didn't want to be in the same place as Tali, singing a song he didn't understand.

And then, Sabrina realized that Joker hadn't sung a single song… So I stepped forward.

"Sabs! You, me, and Moreau… Group mode!" I announced. I glanced at everyone else. "Liara, backup dancer," I decided, pointing my thumb towards the stage. Liara was baffled by the fact that I'd called her name.

Sabrina gave the asari a goofy grin. "Come on Liara!"

At that, the blue girl eagerly stood up and joined us onstage.

"Hey Ash, can you record this?" I asked my human friend. The soldier nodded with a smile, tapping on her omni-tool and giving me a thumbs up when she was ready.

"Here," I tossed my earpiece to Liara. "That one's linked so you won't need to carry a mic and dance. This is going to be quite the performance. Sabs, you're playing Iggy."

Opening up the custom mode on the console, I started assigning different parts to everyone. "Liara, transmitting the song to your earpiece so you can listen to it once. The screen will highlight your parts."

"Hey, what about me?" Moreau argued. "Shouldn't I get to listen to the song once too?"

Sabs and I grinned, slinging our arms around each other. "You have the easiest part," we told him in unison.

"It's the same line, over and over," Sabs explained further. "You'll be fine."

The two of us high fived and beamed at each other. Moreau rolled his eyes. "What kind of settings are you putting on that thing anyways?"

"I'm setting it so I get to dance with attractive women," I mumbled, returning my attention to the customize menu. "And so that you don't dance. Oh, and making whole room the stage for me so I get to make people dance."

"She has the heart of a performer," Kaidan commented to Garrus. "It's a human thing."

I winked at him. "You know it Alenko!" I tapped a final button. "Done! You ready girls?" I asked my backup dancers. Sabrina nodded, Liara looking a bit awkward but also nodding.

"I'd like to dedicate this song to all of you!" I spoke into my mic. "Because tonight's been awesome!"

Tali clapped for me first, the others joining in.

"I'd also like to apologize beforehand for Sabrina's dancing," I added seriously.

"Hey!" Sabrina snapped, slinging her arm around my neck and ruffling my hair. We laughed until she released me and I pressed the start button. The jazzy tune began, and I imitated the dance image on the screen, which was walking forward.

"It's Iggy Igz," Sabrina started. "I got one more problem with you girl!"

Liara sang her background part, imitating the dance moves on the screen. "One less one less problem,"

"Hey baby even though I hate ya, I wanna love ya!" I spun around and faced Liara, who effortlessly glided to my other side, the two of us pointing in unison and harmonizing. "I want you-ou-ou!" I grinned, Liara wasn't too bad. At karaoke. "And even though I can't forgive ya, I really want to!"

"I want you-ou-ou!" Liara harmonized, moving towards Sabrina.

"Tell me tell me baby, why did you leave me?" I walked to the beat off the stage and approaches Kaidan, he got the hint and spun me around. "Cause even though I shouldn't want it, I gotta have it" I quickly jogged to Garrus, poking his… nose? "I want you!"

The turian chuckled, shaking his head down at me. "Humans are strange," he voiced to Wrex while I returned to the stage to dance with my girls for a bit.

"Head in the clouds got no weight on my shoulders! I should be wiser and realize that I've got!" Sabrina and I both pointed to Joker, who looked slightly puzzled for a moment before realizing that it was his turn.

"One less problem without ya! I got one less problem without ya! I got one less problem without ya! I got," He sang, slightly off key and off the beat.

"One less one less problem!" Sabrina and I sang through giggles.

Joker shot us a glare which didn't look scary at all thanks to the smile on his face, but now he seemed to get into the rhythm of the song. "One less problem without ya! I got one less problem without ya! I got one less problem without ya!"

I gave him a wink, Sabrina and Liara singing the next part while I decided that Moreau would be my next target. "I got one less one less problem!"

"I know you're never gonna wake up, I gotta give up!" I sang, looking Joker straight in the eyes, basically overflowing with mischief. He smirked back at me, raising an eyebrow.

And from the corner of my eye, I could see Sabrina's horrible dancing as she and Liara sang backup vocals. "But it's you-ou-ou!"

With a grin, I ran my finger along his chest. "I know I shouldn't ever call back, or let you come back," His eyes widened, and I snatched his hat off his head, placing it on mine.

"But it's you-ou-ou!"

I dashed off the stage and snatched Tali's hand, as she was my girl crush. "Every time you touch me, and say you love me! I get a little bit breathless, I shouldn't want it! But it's you!"

The rest of the song, I cheerfully danced with the aliens and Ash, staying away from Kaidan because he was Sabrina's territory and also because I didn't want more rumors to spring up. Sabrina totally killed the rap, and once the song came to a close I ran into Sabrina's arms, the commander spinning me around and laughing with me. Then she started planting sloppy kisses all over my face until I shoved her over and we both ended up on the floor.

"You're such a freak!" I laughed.

"You're the weirdo here!" Sabrina countered, Kaidan coming over to help her up. Garrus was nice enough to help me up, though he basically lifted me up off the floor.

I stuck out my tongue. "Well, fine then!" I really just could not come up with a good comeback.

"And what was with you and basically everyone tonight?" the commander questioned me, wiggling her eyebrows. "Namely Garrus, Tali, and Joker."

"I love Tali," I stated, as it was actually the most obvious thing in the universe. I had explained and declared my love for the quarian on numerous occasions, however jokingly.

"And Joker?" Ash pressed, a spark in her eyes. Joker limped towards me with his crutches, taking his hat back with a glare. I hugged the pilots arm and beamed at the soldier.

"He's totally in love with me," I joked. "Alas, my heart belongs to Tali."

Moreau rolled his eyes. "Come on Williams, why are you always trying to push me and CP together? It's against regulations for one, and she's basically the little sister I never wanted."

"He's in denial, he's totally in love with me," I whispered loudly, snickering when the man gently shook me off. I was still pumped off from singing, so I felt like absolutely nothing would bring me down.

"Well what about Garrus then?" Kaidan inquired, wrapping an arm around Sabrina. "You were interacting with him quite a bit too."

I shrugged. "Well, what can I say? I like my dextro alien friends."

"Sorry Kim, I don't think it would work between us," Garrus purred. I placed my hand on my heart as if I'd been stabbed.

"But Gare-bear!" I whined. "I thought we had something special going on!"

Everyone had a good laugh at the dumb nick-name I'd come up with on the spot. Garrus shook his head, chuckling. "If you were a turian, I'd have to admit that I'd be a little interested. As it stands now though, you're just too short."

I crossed my arms, huffing. "I'm not that short!" I turned to face my quarian friend. "Tali, you'd be in a relationship with me right?"

"Of course I would," Tali confirmed with a nod. "However, my suit would make it difficult for us to be… physically intimate."

I let out a dramatic sigh, draping myself over Tali. "Well, there goes my dreams of having my first time be with the light of my life."

Moreau snorted. "You're a virgin?"

Well, my good feelings got thrown out the airlock.

My cheeks instantly burned bright red. "T-there's nothing wrong with that!" I stuttered. Sabrina gushed and pulled me into a hug.

"My baby girl's just waiting for the right person to come along!" Sabrina stated, cuddling me. "Kimmy's just too good for flings! And none of you can have her!"

"Sabs," I whined. "Let go!"

"Never, you're all mine!" Sabrina insisted. When she finally released me I dashed behind Ashley.

"Protect me Squire!" I cried, our companions laughing at the unfolding events. The soldier patted my head and grinned at Sabrina.

"Sorry Skipper, looks like Kim's mine now."

"I'd rather lose her to Wrex!" the commander declared. At her words, I darted to Wrex.

"Uncle Wrex! Lift me up!" I ordered. The Krogan did as I asked, chuckling all the while. He lifted me easily with one arm, and I ended up sitting on his shoulder.

"Uncle Wrex?" Kaidan raised an eyebrow.

"Kaidan, if Sabrina's my sister and mom figure, then Wrex is obviously my cool uncle," I told the biotic.

After that, we sang for a little bit longer before Sabrina decided to call it a night and head back to the Normandy. Ashley, Joker, Tali and I decided we'd like to walk around the Citadel a bit longer, so the others went on without us.

"I still can't believe you're a virgin," Joker commented as we walked. Tali flicked him in the head. "Ow," the pilot whined. "What was that for Tali?"

"You shouldn't speak to a lady like that," she chided.

Moreau scoffed. "Come on Tali, we both know Kim's not a lady."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ashley questioned with a raised eyebrow. I crossed my arms.

"Really? None of you are going to flick him for saying that I'm not a lady?" I sighed loudly.

Joker gave me a sheepish look, limping along. "Well, come on CP. You're… different."

I gave him a look. "Explain."

"Well, Tali's a lady. Ashley's a lady. Hell, Shepard's a lady," he stated. "You're basically a kid. You're fun, and childish, and you just don't really do a ton of things that the other girls on the ship do. I mean, I guess you cook…"

"Sexism," Ashley sang.

Joker shot her a glare. "Trying to make a point here Williams," he returned his gaze to me. "Look, I guess you're just not what I think of when I think of a lady. You're just… you're Kim."

"Fine," I huffed. "I guess I'm just one of the guys then."

"Not a bad thing to be," Moreau grinned cheekily.

We passed by a shop, Ashley stopping in her tracks. "Hey guys, I'm just going to slip in here for a sec, go on ahead."

"Okay!" I beamed at the soldier. "I'm hungry, let's go grab some food while we wait for Ash!"

Ash grinned. "I'm not going to take too long. I'll message you when I'm done so I can find you."

Joker, Tali, and I ended up finding a burger place not too far from the shop Ash went in, Tali snacking on some dextro paste while we waited for Ash to finish whatever it was that she was doing. Tali also got the opportunity to experience some epic banter between me and the pilot, the two of us taunting each other relentlessly until Ash walked in. Our group now reunited, we decided to head back to the ship. Since we were docked on the Citadel, all of us headed towards the sleeper pods for some much needed rest. Of course, I was going to sleep in Sabrina's bed because I could, but before I could enter her room, Ash pulled me aside.

"Hey Kim, I got you something," she told me with a soft smile. My eyes shone brightly, and I instantly placed my hands on her shoulders.

"A present? You got me a present?" I asked her, awed. Ashley's smile turned sheepish, and she scratched the back of her head.

"It's nothing much," she coughed. The girl handed me a CD. "I just thought you'd appreciate it. It has all the songs that were sang tonight, and some that I found and thought you'd like from my own searches after you showed me some songs," she told me. "I even asked Skipper about songs that you liked. Its old school, and I figured you'd be a sucker for this kind of thing."

"You're the most wonderful human being in the whole wide universe," I declared. Ash took one look at my face and smiled, ruffling my hair.

"I see what Joker was talking about now. Sometimes the stars really are in your eyes."


	16. Virmire

Yeah this is the longest chapter that I've ever written. xD Remember guys, reviews are like candy! I love all these favs and follows that I've been getting, but please give me a treat and tell me what you think!

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 16: Virmire  
~*~

Waking up that morning, I quickly realized that I had become Sabrina's teddy bear during the night.

"Get… off!" I kicked her off of me, the commander using her biotics to bring me back into her arms for an onslaught of sloppy morning kisses. "Ug, Sabs! What time is it?"

"Past noon Earth time," she told me sheepishly. "I already went to see the Council and we're in the air. You were just so tired, so I told Joker that you needed more sleep."

I let out a groan.

Thanks to Sabs, I missed an opportunity to try and convince Moreau to let me fly the ship.

"Where are we headed?" I asked her, monotone. Sabrina laughed a bit, patting my head.

"Virmire. The Council told me that a Salarian recon team there might have information on Saren, the message they sent wasn't clear so they might be in danger."

"They're probably in danger," I predicted, rolling out of the bed so I could start to get ready.

"Yup, they probably are," the commander agreed. I tossed my sweatpants at Sabrina's face, tugging my uniform on. "Clean up after yourself!" Sabrina laughed, throwing my pants back at me.

"I got it, I got it," I grinned, folding my pants up and tucking them away. "Okay, I'm going to grab myself some coffee and some food, then head on up to the bridge."

"Have fun!"

I trudged towards the kitchen, getting myself and Moreau some coffee. For breakfast, I decided to just grab a granola bar from the food dispenser before heading up.

"Hey Moreau," I greeted as I entered the cockpit. The pilot jumped slightly, and then-

"_OHHHH!"_

He was watching porn.

Moreau scrambled to close the tabs on his screen while I stood there, frozen and with a dumb look on my face which was rapidly turning red.

"I brought you coffee, but it looks like you're already up," I managed to joke. We both averted our gazes to the walls, the control panels, anything but each other.

Moreau scratched his beard, hiding his eyes with his hat. "Sorry, uh… Well, that was supposed to go to my earpiece."

I really just did not know what to say, so I handed him his coffee and sat down in my seat. We sat in silence for a few minutes.

"If you're watching or listening to porn still, I'm going to report you to Sabrina," I announced. Joker sighed, pulling his hat over his eyes. "But I'm still going to tell Sabrina about this, because once I'm over all the awkward this is going to be a hilarious story to tell everyone.

"Please just forget this happened," He groaned, wanting to drop the subject.

I coughed. "You're a perv."

"You're a virgin," he shot back, tapping a few buttons on his control panel. He glanced over to see me sulking at his comment (and the fact that this was the most awkward situation ever). "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. No more porn on the job."

"I don't even want to know how often you did that with me sitting right next to you," I cried, covering my face with my hands. I needed brain bleach. "This is so awkward! Moreau, how could you? I'll never be able to look at you the same way again!"

Moreau chuckled, shaking his head. "You're fine. You were able to make a joke."

I sniffled, pouting over at him. "This is the worst day of my life. Talk to me about something else so I can't keep thinking about this."

Joker looked just a bit confused. "Wait, talk to you? About what?"

"Tell me about your family!" I shouted, waving my fists in the air. "Please! Do you own any property? Do you have any siblings? What's your dad's name?!"

"Why do you want to know about all that?" he questioned me, baffled. I glared at him.

"Filling my mind with hopefully good facts about you to drown out my new bad memories," I reasoned, giving him a pitiful look. The pilot scratched the back of his head and shrugged.

"Well, okay then… My mom's a civilian contractor on the Arcturus Station," he told me, keeping his attention on the ship's controls. "And before you ask, my parents aren't divorced or anything like that. My dad takes care of my sister on our farm. It's on Tiptree."

I looked up in thought, scanning my brain for any info I knew about the world. "That's a colony world, right?" He nodded, and I grinned. "Oh right! You have a sister, I think I remember her from graduation. She was, what, two years old at the time? Such a cutie."

Joker smiled at the thought. "Yeah, she was."

"Got any recent pictures of her to show me?" I inquired, wanting to know more.

He pulled up a holo from his omni tool, flicking the little hologram towards me so I could see it. "Dad sent this over a few months ago, it was my sister's birthday at the time."

I looked it over with a grin. His sister had a huge, toothy smile on her face, freckles dusting her cheeks as she posed for the camera. "She looks a lot like you, only a hell of a lot cuter," I teased. "Same eyes," I noted, flicking the holo back towards him. He closed it, rolling his eyes.

"Well, what about you? Got any pics of you and Sabrina as kids? Do you own a place somewhere?" he pressed. I nodded, pulling up a photo of me, Sabrina and Damian. It was of the three of us back when he'd first taken us in. Sabrina was grinning, an arm slung around my shoulders while Damian rested a hand on my head. I was looking at the camera, looking a little lost with a blank look on my face. I looked young, my hair shaggy and messy, with some dirt on my clothes and some scratches on my face and arms. Sabrina looked just as messy as me, her long black hair tied into a ponytail, her jeans with rips in the knees. Damian himself was clean, wearing his Alliance uniform, his eyes crinkling with a smile.

"He came back from work," I explained, looking at the picture. "Sabrina and I'd decided to plant a garden on the balcony like some of the other apartments had. We made quite a mess digging up the dirt. Damian didn't mind though, said it gave the place more character."

"What's with your expression though?" Moreau asked me. I grinned at him sheepishly.

"Well, we were still just fresh out of the gang at that time. I think only three days out, and I was still pretty out of it. But it didn't take me too long after that to kind of get used to everything," I told the pilot, fiddling with my hands before closing the picture. "The apartment's actually under our names, so we have a place to stay when we're in Vancouver at least. It's cool, and the garden actually ended up pretty nice on the balcony."

"Yeah, garden patios ended up being a pretty big trend in Vancouver," Joker nodded. "Okay, we're not too far from Virmire now. I hope Shepard's ready for this."

We flew through Virmire's atmosphere, and I noticed a few things blinking to life on my screen.

Looking over the scanners, I sent a few readings over to Joker's panel. "Hey Moreau, we're getting a signal." I stated, the pilot nodding and turning on his comm.

"Commander, we're reading a signal. Must be our Salarian infiltration team." Joker spoke, voice calm. He glanced at me. "Catching anything else CP?"

My eyes scanned the screen, and I sighed. "There are defense towers set up. We're going to have to drop Sabrina in the Mako or we'll get shot down," I told him, turning on my comm. "Hey Sabs, you down in the storage bay? We're going to need to do a drop.

"_Just heading down in the time consuming lift," _Sabrina responded, sighing.

I let out a small giggle. "Want to hear something funny that'll help the time pass faster?"

"Don't you dare," Joker growled. I sighed, but didn't reveal the fact that I walked in on him watching porn while on duty.

"_Tell me something funny!" _Sabrina ordered.

I looked up in thought. "Want a picture of Wrex holding a shopping bag?"

"_Yes."_

"Thanks," Moreau murmured, fingers gliding across his control panel. A few minutes later, Sabrina told us that she and her ground team (Liara and Wrex) were in the Mako, ready to be dropped.

The fools had let Sabrina take the driver's seat.

"You ready?" Joker asked me.

I sighed dramatically. "Do you think Liara and Wrex are ready to deal with Sabrina's driving?"

"Nope."

"Careful with the AA guns," I reminded the pilot, a serious look on my face. "Because if we get shot down, it's your fault."

"If we get shot down, you can be the pilot of the next Normandy," Moreau told me with a smile. I grinned back at him. I highly doubted the Council would build us another Normandy if we destroyed this one.

"_We're ready to go when you are," _Sabrina called over the comm.

Opening the storage bay doors, I counted down. "Dropping Mako in 3…2…1…" I quickly released the Mako from the ship, closing the doors as soon as the Mako was out.

"We've got a clean drop, Commander." Joker confirmed, Sabrina telling us to stay out of range and continue evasive maneuvers until she, Liara, and Wrex could bring the AA towers down. Joker rolled his eyes in annoyance at Sabrina's order. "We know the drill. Meet you at the camp once those towers are offline. Joker out."

"Someone's grumpy," I commented. "Is it because you didn't finish watching your porn?"

"Shut up CP."

We fell into a comfortable silence, hovering above the range of the AA towers until Sabrina called to let us know they were offline. With that done, Joker landed us in the camp where the salarian captain was waiting for us.

And from what I could see outside of the Normandy's window, there weren't as many salarians

"This doesn't look good…" I muttered, standing up and placing a hand on Joker's shoulder. "I'm going to go check it out, okay?"

"Yeah," the pilot nodded.

I headed down to the storage bay where Ashley, Kaidan, Tali, and Garrus stood; all of them looking at least a little bit concerned. "You guys heading out too?" I inquired. Nods and vocal confirmations went around, the five of us heading out down the ramp and walking towards the nearest salarian.

"What's going on?" Ashley asked him, the salarian stared at all of us as if we were complete idiots.

"Where's your Commanding officer?" He asked us sternly, and I stepped forward.

"She's taking a Mako here," I explained to him evenly. "Could you tell me what's going on here so I could report to her?"

The salarian scoffed. "I am Captain Kirrahe. Your ship landed in the middle of a hotzone. Every AA gun within ten miles has been alerted to your presence, so I wouldn't suggest flying right now," he told us bluntly. "Everything else, I'll report to your commander."

I paled slightly.

That definitely wasn't good.

"Thank you for the information," I bowed to the salarian slightly, nodding at the rest of the crew before dashing back to the ship. Joker turned to face me as I entered the cockpit, out of breathe.

"So what's going on CP?" he questioned me, curiosity pooling in his green eyes.

I shook my head. "We're grounded," I told the older man between heavy breaths. "Tell the commander?"

The pilot nodded, activating his earpiece. "Commander, Normandy's touched down at the base but it looks like we're grounded," Joker spoke over the comm. "The Salarian captain can explain when you get here."

I practically collapsed in my seat, Joker frowning over at me. "Man, this sucks."

"That bad huh?"

"I don't even know everything yet, but I'm guessing that it sucks," I groaned. "He wouldn't even tell us everything that was going on, meaning that shit's going to hit the fan."

"Man, I hate it when they try to leave me in the dark," Joker grumbled, adjusting his hat. "Look, I'm going to stay in here, but why don't you heard back down and wait for Shepard? That way you can find out what's happening pretty fast."

I nodded. "Yeah sure," I agreed, standing up and heading back out. I could see Sabrina ahead of me, approaching Captain Kirrahe. Jogging up to join the conversation, I froze at what I heard.

"-ns base of operations. It's crawling with Geth and very well fortified," the salarian told Sabrina, who nodded thoughtfully.

"What's he researching?" the commander inquired.

"He's using the facility to breed an army of Krogan."

Wrex turned to them when he heard that, storming over. "How is that possible?"

"Apparently Saren has discovered the cure for the Genophage."

Sabrina paled slightly. "The Geth are bad enough, but now he's going to have an army of Krogan? He'd be almost unstoppable."

Kirrahe nodded, "Exactly my thoughts. We must ensure that this facility and its secrets are destroyed."

Wrex bristled. "Destroyed? I don't think so. Our people are dying, this cure can save them," the Krogan stated darkly.

Kirrahe crossed his arms, turning his gaze to Sabrina. "If this cure leaves this planet, the Krogan will become unstoppable. We can't make the same mistake again."

I frowned. That wasn't exactly the smartest thing to say with a krogan right next to him. Wrex didn't think so either, stomping forward with barely concealed rage and getting in the salarian's face. "We are not a mistake."

I watched Wrex as he stormed off, Kirrahe watching him too. "Is he going to be a problem?" he asked us. "We already have enough angry Krogan to deal with. I glared at the salarian.

"You're a dumbass," I growled, turning and jogging to catch up with the Krogan, Sabrina apologizing for my behavior. "Wrex, hey Wrex! Wait up!" I called, jumping back when the Krogan pulled out his rifle and began shooting at the water.

"I might not be the best company for you right now, Kogan," he growled. "You should go back to the ship," he suggested, glancing over at me warily. I shook my head stubbornly, he scoffed. "Just as stubborn as a krogan. Just stay back so I don't shoot you by accident."

"You've just gotta trust Sabrina," I sighed, sitting down on the sand. "You know that if this was the wrong thing to do, she'd find another way. Sabrina wouldn't just doom your race, she cares about you. All of us do."

"It's not right, Kogan," Wrex told me firmly. "If there's a cure for the Genophage we can't destroy it."

Glancing over my shoulder, I could see Sabrina walking over. "Just listen to her Uncle Urndot," I requested softly. "I'm going to let the two of you talk." Walking away, I gave Sabrina a nod before walking over to Kaidan and Ashley.

"You and Skipper are the only two people I know who would willingly walk up to an angry Krogan to talk. You've got guts Kim," Ash complimented.

I waved her off. "Like Wrex would hurt me," I scoffed. "Like any of you would hurt me, even. Come on Ash, I'm way too cute. Like Moreau said, I'm the little sister he never wanted… so I'm the little sister none of you wanted."

"It's fitting," Kaidan agreed, ruffling my hair.

I looked up thoughtfully. "But I guess I'd be Ashley's big sister that she never wanted, since I'm two months older than her."

Ashley slung an arm around me, eyes smiling down at me fondly. "Sorry Kim, I have enough sisters. I'll be the girl next door."

I stuck out my tongue at her. "I will always be your unwanted big sister."

We all looked over at Sabrina and Wrex, the commander patting the krogan on the arm before walking towards Kirrahe. I scowled, crossing my arms when the others went to go see what was going on.

"I'm going to stay here, and wait till Kirrahe is gone."

Kaidan chuckled, shaking his head. "You don't like him, huh?"

I shrugged. "I think I would have liked him just fine if he didn't insult Uncle Wrex right in front of me. I get what his mission is, but Wrex is part of our crew."

"You're pretty loyal to our crazy little family, aren't you?" Ash commented as she and Kaidan walked off. I shrugged in silent agreement as I waited for them to finish talking to the salarians. Sabrina walked up to me once they were done, pulling me into a brief hug.

"Next time, try not to call our allies names. You were so good with Tali, Wrex, and Garrus. I don't get what's wrong with Liara and Kirrahe," she sighed. "But, you know what? Good job with Wrex, I think you managed to calm him down enough for a rational conversation."

I gave her a thumbs up. "What can I say? I inherited your charisma. Anyways, what's the plan?"

"We're dropping a nuke in the middle of Saren's base," Sabrina explained. "Kaidan's going to go with the Salarian team as support, while my team sneaks into the base to disable the guns so the Normandy can drop off the bomb."

Questioningly, I tilted my head to the side. "You're sending Kaidan as support? Why not Garrus? Or Ashley?"

"I figured they could use the biotics," Sabrina reasoned. "And he's just as good a soldier as Garrus or Ashley."

"I can't argue with that reasoning," I jumped up and gave Sabrina a quick peck on the cheek. "I'm going to go back to the ship. Who are you bringing with you?"

"Ashley and Wrex," she told me with a grin. I peeked behind her to see Wrex and Ashley not too far away.

"You two better keep Sabrina safe, and stay safe yourselves! I'll see you guys at the bomb site!" I shouted to them. Wrex nodded, determination written all over his face and Ashley gave me a thumbs up. I then ran up to Kaidan and gave him a hug. "Stay safe Alenko."

"You too, Kim," the leauitenent replied, a gentle smile gracing his lips. "You know, if I did have a little sister… I'd want it to be you," he admitted, a glimmer of this… thing, in his eyes. Like something was ending.

"You're such a flatterer," I beamed up at him. With that, I returned to the Normandy's cockpit, taking my seat next to the pilot. I could see from the windows that Tali, Garrus, and Liara were heading back to the ship. Some other crewmen were loading the bomb in our storage bay.

"So, I hear we're dropping a nuke on top of Saren," Moreau commented. I smiled softly.

"Yeah," I confirmed. "You ready for this, Moreau?"

The pilot turned to me with a smile. "You know I am. What, are you scared?"

I scoffed. He was speaking blasphemy. "Me? Scared? Yeah right Moreau. There's no way we'll mess up. We're the best at what we do," I announced confidently.

Turning serious, Joker shook his head. "No, I mean…" he faltered. "…I know. And I just wanted to tell you that, well, there's no one else I'd rather fly with."

I looked away from his emerald green eyes, smile forming on my face "…Thanks Moreau."

"Yeah," Moreau mumbled, returning his attention to the control panel.

"But what's with everyone making this seem like the end huh?" I exclaimed. "I mean, Kaidan had this look earlier…"

Moreau shrugged. "I guess this kind of feels like this is it, you know? We're destroying Saren's base. Doesn't help that there's so many risks involved in this plan the salarians have."

"I trust Sabrina, things are going to be fine," I insisted, smiling over at him. "But since you seem so worried about it, do you want me to declare how much I love working with you?"

"Nope," Moreau grumbled, glaring at his console. "I'm good."

"Aw, don't be like that," I whined. "I'm sorry for not taking you seriously, okay? Listen," I looked down at my hands, fiddling with my shirt. "Well, I like being your co-pilot, okay? We… we're a team now. I can't imagine working with anyone else," I admitted shyly. Joker smirked.

"And Ashley thinks that I like you," he joked. I grinned, giving him a playful look.

"You do like me," I teased. "But it's like, you like me a lot, and I simply tolerate you."

"You're such a weirdo."

Not too long after that, we got to work. I kept my eyes on the scanners while Joker prepared to get us off the ground. The crew was back on the ship, Tali and Garrus doing minor repairs to the Mako down in the storage bay in case we needed it. Absolutely no one was relaxing on the Normandy, and I began to feel a bit tense.

And maybe just a tiny bit scared.

About an hour passed, and I noticed Saren's ship beginning to move. "Moreau, um… there's a ship moving. Fast," I pointed out, tapping a few buttons on my console and sending the readings to the pilot.

Joker growled. "Shit. That's Sovereign," he cussed, turning on his comm. "Commander? We've got trouble."

"_Joker? What's wrong?" _Sabrina replied, sounding worried.

"That ship, Sovereign? It's moving. I don't know what you did down there but that thing just pulled a turn that would shear any of our ships in half," Joker explained.

My eyes widened and I turned on my mic. "Sabrina it's coming your way and fast. Finish up in there, ASAP!" I snapped, my fingers dancing along the aero gel to help get everything ready for takeoff.

"_Once the towers are down get to the breeding facility and pick us up there," _Sabrina ordered us. Not too long after that, I could see the towers on my scanners go out.

"All right! Nice work. That's one less thing to worry about." Joker cheered, probably to Kaidan. The two of them were relatively close. "Commander, we're bringing the Normandy in. We'll get as close to the site as we can."

"Let's go!" I grinned, Joker and me bringing the Normandy off the ground and maneuvering us towards the drop zone. Things for us were uneventful, and I eagerly volunteered to help set up the bomb with Ashley. Joker seemed a bit wary about letting me leave the ship again, but Sabrina said it was fine so I went to help. Just to be safe though, I threw on a set of light armor from the armory and grabbed myself a pistol.

"Looking like a soldier Kim," Ashley stated, the two of us carrying the nuke out together and into position.

That's when things went to hell.

"Bomb is in position." Ashley confirmed, the two of us high-fiving. "We're all set here-"

"_Commander do you read me?!" _Kaidan called over the comm, cutting Ashley off.

"The nuke is almost ready Kaidan, get to the rendezvous point," Sabrina responded with a smile.

"_Negative, Commander. The geth have us pinned down on the AA tower. We've taken heavy casualties. We'll never get to the rendezvous point in time," _the biotic male replied.

Sabrina's smile began to fall, eyes widening slightly. "Hold tight, we're coming to get you," she told him decisively, waving Garrus and Wrex over. She turned on her comm. "Joker, take the Normandy and get them out of there now!"

"_Negative, make sure that nuke is set. We'll hold them as long as we can-"_

Kaidan's comm went dead.

Ashley placed a hand on Sabrina's shoulder. "It's okay Commander, I'm going to need a few more minutes to arm the nuke. Go get them and meet me back here."

Sabrina nodded, turning to me. "You stay here with Ash, where it's safe," she ordered, turning to look at her team. "Up to the AA tower, let's move."

I stood by Ash, helping her arm the nuke. She looked up, frowning for a moment before smiling at me. "Kim, go follow Sabrina. I'll be right behind you."

Looking up, I saw the Geth troop ship. I glanced back at Ash. "You'll be right behind me?"

She nodded firmly. "If you stay here where it's not safe, Sabrina's going to kill me herself," the soldier joked. "I'm going to finish arming the nuke, and then I'll be right behind you, promise."

"Got it," I replied with a grin and a nod, jogging in the direction Sabrina went and through the heavy doors that led to the area Kaidan and the salarian team were trapped. I quickly caught up to Sabrina, who opened her mouth to scold me, but then-

"_Chief, we just spotted a troop ship headed to your location" _Kaidan warned over the comm, and I felt my heart begin to sink.

"_It's already here and it's bleeding geth all over the bomb site. Shepard, is Kim with you?"_

"She's here," Sabrina confirmed. "Can you hold them off?"

"_Negative! It's too late for us. __There's just too many of them! I don't think we could hold them,"_ Ash answered, almost robotically. "_I'm activating the nuke."_

"Ash, what the hell are you doing?!" Sabrina snapped.

I could hear Ash sigh through my earpiece, almost defeated. "_I'm making sure this bomb goes off. No matter what." _

"Ash, don't," I begged, my throat drying up.

"_It's done, Commander. Go get the lieutenant and get the hell out of here," _the soldier ordered, I felt my heart tighten.

"_Belay that. We can handle ourselves. Go back and get Williams!" _Kaidan shouted.

I grabbed Sabrina's arm. "Sabs, I'll go back and get Ashley. We can save both of them!" I told her frantically. "We can't just leave one of them behind, we can't-"

Sabrina cut me off, eyes filled with grief. "Alenko… Radio Joker… Tell him to meet us at the AA tower."

"What?" I felt numb. Garrus watched me with pitiful eyes, placing a hand on my shoulder and shaking his head.

Kaidan sounded almost broken over the comm. "_Yes Commander, I…"_

They were her soldiers. They would listen to her decision.

"_You know it's the right choice, L.T," _Ash stated approvingly, and I could imagine the small, sad smile that was on her face as she spoke.

I could imagine the Geth walking forward, lifeless and robotic, attacking her and the other crewmembers that had stayed with the bomb.

Why weren't we going to even try to save both of them?

"I'm sorry Ash," Sabrina apologized, giving me a look just… begging me not to try and do something because this was her choice.

There wasn't a right choice here. There wasn't.

"_I understand Commander…I don't regret a thing," _Ash admitted.

I felt empty, lost, shattered. Garrus led me along as I just watched Sabrina's back, completely numb to anything and everything that was going on around me.

Ashley promised that she'd be right behind me.

"_Let it be, Kim," _Ash spoke, voice soft. Calm. _"Let it be."_

I wanted to scream.

I only snapped out of it when we'd reached Kaidan and Kirrahe and the other salarians. There were Geth, their flashlight heads flashing brightly. I raised my pistol, shooting at them with a rage that I just… hadn't felt before. They were killing Ashley, they crippled me for a week, they…

No.

Was it… my fault?

No, I couldn't think about that right now. I had to focus, for Sabrina. I couldn't just stay in my head and worry about Ashley, I could grieve later. Wrex stood near me, hitting all the ones that I was aiming at because honestly?

I was out of practice. My shots were not deadly, unlike Garrus who I could see sniping the heads off the machines I could only barely hit their arms and legs. Once the last one fell, I felt a small grin grow on my lips.

And then out of the blue, I'd been thrown back by a blast of biotics.

"Kim!" Sabrina screamed. I lay on the concrete, dazed. Wrex and Garrus had been thrown back too, Kaidan lying face down near me. Quickly, the aliens scrambled to their feet and got behind cover, and I crawled towards Kaidan. Looking up, I saw a pale Turian jump down from a hovering platform, Sabrina shooting at him before hiding behind cover.

"This has been an impressive diversion, Shepard," he complimented. "My geth were utterly convinced the salarians were the real threat."

"Thank you so much," Sabrina shouted back sarcastically.

"Of course, it was all for nothing. I can't let you disrupt what I have accomplished here," the monster sighed. "You can't possibly understand what's really at stake."

Okay, villain was talking to Sabrina. Good, his attention wasn't on me. I finished crawling to Kaidan, rolling him over and checking his pulse. He was just unconscious, damn it, what could I do? Cautiously, I rolled the older man onto his side, supporting his neck and throwing off his helmet. I could see some blood soaking through the fabric material of his armor.

God, what could I do?

"Medi-gel to stop the bleeding, just in case it's serious," I muttered to myself, administering the gel with my omni-tool. "Keep him on his side just in case he throws up. Can't move him alone, can't leave him alone…"

I was not going to let him die.

Sabrina began firing at Saren frantically, throwing biotics and quickly making her way towards me, our allies covering her. "Kim, are you okay? Is Kaidan okay?"

"He's unconscious," I answered quickly. "I can't move him alone! And we can't very well move him with Saren shooting at us!"

Sabrina shot at the turian a few more times, before he threw a small grenade towards us. Instinctively I moved my body to shield Kaidan, Sabrina getting thrown back by the blast. Saren stepped off his flying platform and grabbing Sabrina by the neck and dragging her towards the ledge. Garrus was tossed back by Saren's biotics, Wrex helping the salarians kill some more Geth that had arrived. I stood up, pistol in hand, and screamed.

"Let go of her Sarendipity-Doo!"

I fired three shots, Sabrina taking his moment of distraction to land a punch to the asshole in the face. She just barely landed on the ledge, dragging herself to safety and running towards me while Saren escaped. Garrus and Wrex came forward to help us move Alenko while the Normandy flew in to pick us up. All of us scrambled up the ramp and into the storage bay, Tali grabbing my hand and pulling me into a hug as the doors closed.

A few moments before the nuke went off, my omni-tool flared to life. I watched as videos, pictures, and data were uploaded to it.

From Ash.

Some things were labelled for her family. Others for members of the crew. Armor and weapons now packed away and back in my fatigues, I sent them all to who they were addressed to, deleting them from mine as soon as it was done because… they weren't meant for me.

There were pictures and videos from karaoke that she took. Even a couple pics from when we made food together. One of me sleeping, with drool on my face.

I should have guessed that she wouldn't have deleted it, even if Sabrina asked.

Curling up on the floor of Sabrina's bedroom, I opened the one that was for me. Sabrina and the others were in the conference room. It had been made just yesterday, right after we'd come back from Karaoke.

"_Hey Kim, I know it's kind of stupid for me to make something like this… but hey, you never know what's going to happen right?" _she smiled on the screen, looking a bit tired and sad. _"I just wanted to let you know… I really care about you, you know? It took me a while to realize how much, but I'm so glad to have you in my life," _she laughed weakly. _"You know, it's pretty easy to see who you care about Kim. But I guess there's still your crush on Tali to consider. Anyways, just… Thanks for everything Kim."_

Ashley let out a groan, placing a hand on her forehead. _"Yeah, you know what? This is really stupid and I'm still a little bit drunk from those shots with Sabrina. It's not like you're ever going to see this anyways… Whatever, I'll delete this tomorrow,"_ she grumbled, more to herself than for the recording.

I stumbled out of the room, tears pooling in my eyes, and headed straight to the bridge. Moreau sat in his seat, holding his head in his hands. I let out a loud sniffle from behind him, causing him to jump up and turn his seat and stare at me, eyes sad.

"You okay CP?" He asked me, voice gentle and worried. A tear fell from my eye, causing Moreau's eyes to widen. "No, no, please don't cry," he groaned, throwing his head back. The tears just wouldn't stop falling now, and I quickly went to wipe my eyes with my hands.

"Sorry, I'm sorry," I apologized in between sobs.

Moreau's face had guilt written all over it. "Shit, no CP… I'm sorry, okay? Come here," he sighed, opening his arms. "You need a hug."

"Won't I break your legs?" I cried, still wiping at my eyes frantically. Why wouldn't the tears stop?

The pilot scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Come on Kim, I'm not made of glass. And you're tiny, I bet even I'd be able to lift you with one arm."

Not needing more to convince me, I carefully joined Moreau on his seat, the pilot wrapping an arm around me while I rested my head against his chest. He rubbed my back, taking his hat off and placing it on my head. "Am I too heavy?" I mumbled through his shirt. I could feel him chuckle.

"Nah, you're light," he assured.

"This is weird," I cried, clutching his shirt in my fist. "Why're you being so nice? This is too nice," I stated, tears still falling from my eyes and sinking into his shirt.

Moreau shrugged, averting his gaze. "Ash told me to take care of you," he explained softly. "Plus, we're a team and you're in pain. What kind of friend would I be if I just let you suffer alone?"

"How come my name doesn't taste like poison on your tongue?" I sniffled. The pilot let out a short laugh, smiling now.

"Because I'm not a weirdo," Moreau explained.

"Fine. I'm calling you Jeff now. Even if your name tastes like death."

"Whatever you want CP."

We stayed like that for a bit longer, the two of us making little jokes and Jeff just… comforting me until I ran out of tears. But just sitting in his arms… well, it felt awkward as fuck, so I soon left him in favor of my own seat.

"You made a good chair," I joked weakly, still sad. "Just not good enough."

Jeff rolled his eyes. "Believe me, being a chair was not my preferred career choice."

After that, we fell into a depressing silence; a dark cloud appearing over us.

Ashley was dead.


	17. Grounded

_Today, I finished writing Across the Universe. I have also started working on the first chapter of it's sequel. _

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 17: Grounded  
~*~

Basically the moment we'd docked in the Citadel, Udina sold us out. There were locks placed on the Normandy, we couldn't fly.

Until further notice, we were grounded and Sabrina was taken off the mission.

All because we detonated a nuke to try and stop Saren.

Liara recognized something from the visions from linking minds with Sabrina. Ilos. We needed to get to Ilos, but we couldn't. All because Udina was a douche.

Jeff and I had gone with Sabrina, Wrex, and Garrus down to the Wards after getting a message from Captain Anderson to meet him at Flux, Sabrina getting stopped by a reporter on the way. She smiled at Sabrina, fake and snotty. I already didn't like her.

"Khalisah Al-Jilani, Westerlund News," she greeted. "Would you answer a few questions for our viewers?"

Sabrina shrugged, distant. "What do you want to know?"

"You've been given a unique position to represent our race," the reporter replied. "People want to get a sense of how you'll do that," she activated her camera-bot. "Humans have been trying to get the respect of the galactic community for twenty-six years. With that in mind, what are your feelings on being the first human Spectre?"

Sabrina gave her a small, tired smile. "The Spectres represent the best of every species in the galaxy. To be asked to join them is an honor."

The reporter frowned. "Some have said your appointment is the Citadel 'Throwing the humans a bone,'" she quoted. Jeff and I gave each other a look. "Have you encountered any situations where the Citadel asked you to place its needs before the needs of Earth?"

I rolled my eyes. What exactly was this lady trying to do?

"The Council is concerned with the needs of the whole galactic community," Sabrina explained, being incredibly political. "We're a part of that community now. Our needs are on their agenda, but we're one of many."

If I was Sabrina, I would have walked away already.

The reporter continued to try and lure Sabrina into a bad response, but the commander was very good about answering in a way that wouldn't make the Council or herself look bad. As we walked away, I piped up.

"I would have punched her in the face," I told Sabrina bluntly.

Wrex chuckled. "Spoken like a Krogan."

Sabrina sighed. "If she'd asked me about Virmire, I would have."

I closed my eyes for a moment, fighting off the dark feelings that came with the mention of that place. It was just… too soon. My bruises hadn't yet healed, and neither had my heart.

Once we'd arrived at the club, Anderson waved us over, and I grabbed some seats for Joker and I to sit on. Wrex and Garrus stood behind us, Sabrina taking the spot next to our ex-captain. The music in the club was loud, and everyone in it was either too drunk to listen in on our conversation, or too busy dancing to the loud music.

A perfect place to talk.

"Hey Anderson," Sabrina greeted. Anderson smiled at our little group.

"I'm glad you all came. I heard what happened," he sighed, leaning forward and resting his hands on the table. Sabrina sighed, a touch of anger appearing on her face.

"They pulled me off the mission, just like when they forced you to give up the Normandy," she grumbled. I patted her back.

Anderson nodded understandingly. "I know, I'm sorry. I wanted to warn you but there was no way to get a message to you before you docked. I know you're pissed off right now but you can't give up," the older man stated. "They all think this is over, but we know it's not. You have to go to Ilos, you have to stop Saren from using the Conduit."

Sabrina raised an eyebrow. "There's only one ship that can get me into the Terminus System's undetected and she's grounded.

A smirk appeared on Andersons lips. "Citadel Control's locked down all the Normandy's systems, but if we override the Ambassador's orders we can get them back online. You can be in the Terminus Systems before anyone even knows you're gone."

The Commander frowned, uncertain. "If we steal the Normandy, you're the one left holding the bag."

"And if Saren finds the Conduit, life as we know it is over," Anderson argued. "The Reapers will destroy us. Humans, Asari, everybody. You're the only one who can stop it Shepard, so I'll do whatever it takes to get you on the Normandy and off this station."

Sabrina leaned back, still unsure. "Stealing the Normandy is mutiny, what if the crew won't help me?"

I snorted. "Really Sabrina? I'd follow you to hell."

Jeff agreed with a firm nod. "There's no way I'd let you do this alone." Garrus and Wrex both added in their willingness to join Sabrina for the mission, Anderson smiling.

"See Shepard? The Normandy's your ship now Commander. Her crew will follow you to the ends of the Galaxy, we all know that."

A light blush dusted Sabrina's cheeks, a small smile appearing on her face. "I… Thanks you guys, and I won't forget this Captain. I promise."

Anderson nodded. "The Normandy's controls can be unlocked from one of the consoles in the Citadel Control Center, if I put the cameras on a loop you'll have a few minutes before anyone realizes something's wrong."

Garrus shook his head. "That's a restricted area patrolled by armed guards. How are you going to get in?"

"Leave that to me," the Captain replied. "Just make sure you're in the Normandy when the systems come back online."

A lightbulb went off in my head. "Wait, Anderson, is there any place else that the controls could be overridden?"

Anderson looked up thoughtfully. "Ambassador Udina issued the lockdown order, if I could hack into the computer in his office maybe I could override it," he replied. "But the cameras won't be on a loop, you could get caught pretty quickly."

"Not as quickly as we could if you walk straight into Citadel Control to unlock the Normandy," I reasoned, turning to Garrus. "Garrus, you used to be C-Sec, the Control room is just through the C-Sec offices right?"

Garrus nodded. "Yes, they are… why?"

"Are there any air vents or something?" I pressed, determination written all over my face. "Getting the cameras to loop shouldn't be too hard as long as I can get close enough to a console to hack into it with my omni-tool."

Sabrina grabbed my arm. "No way Keys, you're not doing that. What if you don't get back to the ship on time?"

"Wait, Shepard, it might be a good idea," Garrus advised. "Since she won't be running right into the control room, no one's going to expect a thing. The cameras would be on a loop for an hour at the least, the systems won't even notice a thing as long as she's careful with her hacking. And the vents don't have any sensors or cameras in them."

"Plus, do you really think anyone else here can hack and be small enough to be unheard in an air vent?" I added. "I can do that, and once the footage is looped I'll get back to the ship. Garrus can wait for me by the vent I enter from so he can message Anderson once I'm clear, and while I'm doing that we can get the crew back onto the Normandy."

Jeff frowned, crossing his arms. "If everyone goes at one time, it's going to look suspicious, Commander. Maybe CP's plan isn't bad at all, we'll have extra time to get everyone ready."

Sabrina looked conflicted, but nodded. "Okay, if that's the best option then we'll go with it. Anderson, what do you think?"

"It seems like the plan with the least amount of risk," Anderson acknowledged, nodding approvingly. "You sure you're up for it though Officer Kogan?"

I glanced at Garrus. "Think you can tell me what you know about the Citadel's computer systems to help me out?"

The turian nodded, just as determined as me. "I could even map out the vents for you on your omni-tool."

I gave Anderson a thumbs up. "I got this Captain."

"Good," Anderson smiled, turning to Sabrina. "You ready to get the hell off this station Commander?"

"We're ready," Sabrina confirmed.

"I'll go to the Embassy's and wait for your signal," Anderson informed, Garrus tapping on his omni-tool to pull up some information for me. Sabrina placed a hand on my shoulder, handing me a pistol she'd brought along with a stern face.

"You go in, hack the cameras, then get out," she ordered. "Wrex and I will get everyone to the ship in intervals of seven to ten minutes, and we take off the moment you and Garrus step foot on the Normandy."

"Got it," I responded seriously. Jeff stood up, limping towards me with his crutches.

"Don't do anything stupid," the pilot stressed to me before turning to Garrus. "And if she gets in trouble, you'd better be ready to help her."

"You can count on me," Garrus promised. I took a step forward and hugged Jeff, leaning my head against his chest for a moment before releasing him, grinning and looking into his green eyes.

"Don't worry about me Jeff, I'm fantastic," I boasted, confident in my abilities. He rolled his eyes and frowned, saying nothing more as he limped after Sabrina. I looked up at Garrus, who smiled back down at me and started walking. "So Garrus, what can you tell me?"

"There's a shaft you can get into just inside the Atrium," he told me, forwarding a map to my omni-tool. "From there, you go straight and take the first right. That part of the vent is an upwards slope that takes you above the C-Sec offices. Once you're there, just take a left… that should get you to Citadel Control. We're going to need to give you a rebreather, just in case of exposure to the outside. We can get one of those from a friend of mine, Doctor Michelle."

I nodded, following after him. It didn't take us too long to get the rebreather and then head to the ventilation shaft. The area was dark, and lucky for us there was no one else nearby who could see us. Garrus helped me take off the grate, putting it back in place once I'd crawled inside. I turned on my omni-tool for lighting, crawling forward. Luckily, since the Citadel needed a lot of air the shaft was large enough that I could crawl through it semi-comfortably.

Semi-comfortably, because even though I was tiny and didn't have any trouble with it, there was a hell of a lot of dust. Disgusting. After I was done with this, I'd need to take at least two showers to feel clean. I crawled quickly, keeping an eye on my map and being careful so I didn't accidently fall down a deadfall.

Soon, I was above the C-Sec offices. I slowed down, being careful to not make any noise because of the officers. I took the next left like Garrus had advised, making it to Citadel Control without a problem. Through the slits in the shaft, I was able to see a few consoles. The people that should have been working were all facing each other, laughing and chatting about some trivial topics. That would make my job easier.

With a few taps, I'd linked my omni-tool to one of their security consoles. Holding my breath, I began to set the security footage for dock 422 to loop so they wouldn't be able to see us stealing the Normandy, or see the crew make their way onto the ship.

Once that was done, I began crawling backwards, taking my time so that no one could hear something and think that anything was suspicious. Soon I'd made it back to the grate I'd entered from, knocking on it. Garrus pulled it off, helping me up before putting the grate back in place. "You're completely covered with dust," he commented. I let out a sigh, shaking my head.

"Think this is going to look suspicious?" I asked him, Garrus shook his head.

"Not if we're careful," he told me, activating his comm. "Anderson? Officer Kogan's out of the duct. We're heading to the Normandy now."

"_Good job you two, hurry back to the ship. I'll wait five minutes before heading up to Udina's office."_

We hurried. The elevator ride up to dock 422 felt unbearably slow, taking a whole three minutes. The two of us waited in complete silence, and as soon as the elevator doors opened we dashed into the decontamination chamber in record speed. Then, as soon as I stepped inside of the Normandy, I went straight to the bridge, Garrus following behind me.

"How are things going over here?" I inquired, placing a hand on Sabrina's shoulder. Jeff was watching the control panel intently, it was still red.

"Nothing yet CP," he answered, smirking. "All the crew is accounted for now, everyone's ready for this. Just waiting for Anderson to get rid of this lock."

"Anderson'll come through for us," Sabrina chimed. "Shouldn't be too long now."

Just as she finished saying that, the panel turned green. We all let out a cheer, Sabrina placing a hand on Jeff's shoulder while I took my position in the co-pilots seat.

"Let's go, get us out of here you two, now," Sabrina ordered. "Vakarian, come with me."

The two of them exited the cockpit, Jeff scanning his screens and preparing us for take-off. I began plotting our course to Ilos while the pilot maneuvered us out of the docks and clearing us from the Citadel's arms. I closed my eyes tightly as Joker rushed us through the Widow Relay, completely evading the ships that were on guard.

None of them followed us.

"Really? Really?" I turned towards Jeff in annoyance and disbelief. "That's supposed to be their defense against Saren attacking the Citadel? They didn't even try to stop us!"

Jeff wasn't even annoyed, he was disappointed. "Aw damn it," he groaned. "No sign of pursuit?"

"Not a single sign," I confirmed, Sabrina returning to check on us. The pilot turned his head to look up at Sabrina who was looking down at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I was hoping the Council would send some ships after us," he explained. "I was looking forward to putting the Normandy through her paces," he turned to look at me with a shrug. "Figured we could see what this ship could really do."

"Saren's still out there," Sabrina responded dryly. "Maybe we'll get the chance to play hide and seek with Sovereign."

"You know, it doesn't seem like much fun when you say it Commander," Jeff sighed, mood slightly deflated.

"Here, let me try," I offered. "Saren's still out there, maybe we'll get the chance to play hide and seek with Sovereign!" I imitated, speaking more eagerly than Sabrina had.

"There we go," Jeff approved, smiling at me. He did a double take. "You're covered in dust."

"Thank you so much for noticing," I sassed, standing up and facing Sabrina. "Can I use your shower?"

Sabrina nodded. "That uniform will never be clean again," she told me mournfully. "I'm so sorry."

I shoved her playfully and left to take a much needed shower. Sabrina was lucky, as the ship's captain she got her own private bathroom. I chucked my dust covered clothes into the laundry chute and digging through Sabrina's drawers to grab some clothes to change into once I was done. I'd pretty much moved into the captain's quarters with Sabrina over the course of our mission, so I no longer needed to keep my clothes in one of the storage lockers by the sleeper pods. Grumpily, I realized that I didn't have any spare sets of fatigues, and since I knew I was too small to just borrow one of Sabrina's without looking like a drowning midget I just grabbed my casual clothes. A pair of black tights and a dark gray tank top, boyshorts and a sports bra.

Inside the bathroom, I stared at myself in the mirror. There were dark bruises on my shoulders and my legs. The ones on my shoulders were the worst, from when Saren had thrown me back with his biotics. I felt a little bit sore, but Chakwas had told me that I was fine when she'd checked me after Virmire. Kaidan had been worse, but the doctor had praised me for taking care of him when he was unconscious, apparently my decision to administer the medi-gel had been the right one. Alenko had lost a fair amount of blood fighting the Geth, I was honestly surprised that he hadn't applied medi-gel himself when he realized he was bleeding.

But he was fine, we were all fine. Most of us were alive.

I felt a stab in my chest at the thought, and stepped into the shower. The water ran down my body, tinted brown as I washed the dust from my skin. I watched it disappear down the drain in a steady stream, slowly turning clear.

But I just… I didn't feel _clean_.

I lathered shampoo onto my hair, shutting my eyes and feeling the bubbles slip down my back. Once all of the bubbles had gone down the drain, I turned off the water and dried myself off. I changed quickly, frowning at myself in the mirror.

The bruises were a lot easier to see when I was in a tank top. At least my fatigues had hid the ones on my shoulders, but my tank top did not do that.

God, I couldn't let anyone see these. They looked disgusting. Sure, the armor I wore had kept me from breaking any bones, but why couldn't it have kept me from getting so bruised up? I guess I was lucky enough that I didn't get my face bruised too, but still.

It hurt.

Poking my head out of the washroom, I saw that Sabrina was doing some work at her desk. "Hey Sabs, can you toss me a hoodie?" I requested, the commander standing up and walking over to grab me one.

"Why can't you get one yourself?" she questioned, snatching a dark blue hoodie out of her drawer and tossing it to me. I barely caught it.

"Well, the bathroom's warm and your room is cold in comparison," I shrugged, pulling the hoodie over my arms and zipping it up. I stepped out of the bathroom, posing for my sister, who smiled.

"All out of uniforms?"

"All out," I confirmed with a sigh. "Looks like I'll be in my civilian clothes for the remainder of our mission."

"Well, considering the fact that we're fugitives now I doubt it matters what you wear," Sabrina remarked, returning to her desk. "You going to head back up to the bridge?"

I nodded, making my way towards the door. "Yeah, don't want to let Jeff do all the flying."

"First name basis now, huh?" Sabrina wiggled her eyebrows and I rolled my eyes.

"Come on Sabs, I call everyone by their first name, it's not that big of a deal," I grumbled, opening the door to come face to face with Kaidan. I pursed my lips, the biotic freezing up and staring down at me with a small amount of panic.

"Oh, Kim," he coughed out, giving me an awkward smile. "I'm just here to see Shepard," Kaidan spluttered. I raised my hands in surrender.

"I don't want to know, I don't care, I'm heading up to the cockpit," I announced. "Just do me a favor and burn the bedsheets when you're done." I pushed past the biotic, who was absolutely stunned by my reaction, and headed back up to the cockpit.

"Hey Jeff, what's our ETA?" I piped, peering over the pilots shoulder. He jumped slightly, and I snickered. "As you're not scrambling to shut some extranet tabs, I think it's safe to say that you're not watching porn."

"ETA to the Mu Relay's two hours, goofball."


	18. Ilos

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 18: Illos  
~*~

After the Relay jump, we flew to Ilos as carefully as possible. I was almost certain that everyone on the ship was feeling tense, because, well… this was it. Saren wanted the Conduit, and we needed to stop him. This was our chance to stop him and save the galaxy.

I checked out coordinates and turned on my mic. "Ten minutes from Ilos," I called over the comm, keeping my eyes on the scanners. I noticed a few red dots appearing on it, most likely Geth. I flicked off my mic and turned to face Jeff. "Hey Moreau, think this could be Saren?" I asked him, pointing at my screen.

Jeff nodded. "I'd be surprised if it wasn't. Better let Shepard know."

"Already on it," I flicked my mic back on, broadcasting to everyone on the Normandy. "Sabrina, can you come up to the bridge? It's important."

"Smooth move CP, make everyone curious," Jeff chuckled. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Shut up dumbass," I snapped back with a playful grin. "Maybe I wanted everyone and their mother to hear me."

A smirk appeared on Jeff's lips and I instantly went red, realizing what I'd done wrong.

"Damn it! Everyone, ignore that! I was talking to Joker!" I cried, muting my mic right after that and hiding my face in my hands while Jeff laughed next to me. "I'm such a loser," I mumbled.

"You're fine CP," Jeff chuckled, shaking his head and gliding his fingers across the Normandy's controls. "If anything, you've lightened the mood."

Not too long after that, the aliens, Kaidan, Sabrina, and Navigator Pressly entered the cockpit to see what was going on.

"I heard Kim embarrass herself," Tali teased, standing behind my seat. I looked up and pouted at her.

"You heard nothing Tali," I stated. "I don't even know what you're talking about."

Tali crossed her arms, and I could just feel the amused smile on her face. If Quarians could smile... "I believe you called Joker a dumbass?"

"You heard _nothing _Tali," I repeated forcefully. The quarian let out a small giggle, stepping back when Sabrina cut in, placing a gentle hand on the younger alien's shoulder.

"Come on Tali, don't tease her right now," my sister smiled down at me softly. That's when my bearded pilot friend decided to interrupt, bringing the rest of us back on topic.

"Ah Commander? We've got company," Jeff informed, pointing the red dots on our scanners out. I snapped my attention back to my console, eyes darting to take in everything.

"Who is it?" Sabrina questioned us, looking between Jeff and I with a straight face.

I turned my head to look up at Sabrina with a serious expression. "Saren, I assume. Geth too. Lots of them," I answered. Sabrina nodded, placing a hand on my chair and looking over my screen. Tali moved back to stand with Garrus, Wrex crossing his arms and leaning by the entrance.

"Have their sensors picked us up yet?" Liara questioned us (mostly to Joker though. Just because I apologized to her and asked her to sing with me during karaoke did not exactly make us friends), and I rolled my eyes at the young asari's stupid question. If they'd picked us up, I highly doubted they'd be moving that slowly.

"No, our stealth systems are engaged," I explained to her, trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice. I mostly succeeded. "Unless we get close enough for them to see us they won't have a clue that we're here. Pretty great that this ship can go undetected by Geth, huh Tali? Maybe you could bring along some information of the Normandy's steath systems to your people. You know, to bring along with that Geth data."

Tali perked up at my words. "That's actually not a bad idea…"

"We'll see what we can do," Sabrina told her with a nod. "We probably can't give you too much, but every bit helps right?"

"Commander, we're picking up some strange readings from the planet's surface." Pressly called from the console at the back of the cockpit.

Sabrina nodded at Pressly and then looked at me and Jeff, a hand on her hip. "Take us down you two. Lock in on the coordinates."

Pressly instantly shot that plan down. "Negative on that, Commander. The nearest landing zone's two klicks away," he stated bluntly, shaking his head.

"We'll never make it in time on foot. Get us something closer!" Kaidan ordered the navigator with a scowl.

"There is nowhere closer!" Pressly snapped at the lieutenant with frustration. "I've looked!"

Things were starting to feel just a tad bit more tense than before.

"Drop us in the Mako?" Sabrina suggested awkwardly, causing the navigator to sigh and shake his head.

"You'd need at least a hundred metres of open terrain to pull off a drop like that. The most I can find near Saren is twenty." The older man explained warily, causing Kaidan to get even more frustrated at the situation.

"Twenty meters?! We'll never get in close enough for a drop," Alenko exclaimed.

"We have to try!" Liara argued.

"Find another landing zone!" Kaidan shouted, turning to glare at Pressly, as if his angry stare could somehow make Pressly clear a path for us to use.

"There is no other landing zone!" the navigator repeated.

I turned to glare at Kaidan. He wasn't helping. "Come on Alenko, calm down and stop taking it out on Pressly. Let's all think about this rationally."

The male biotic pursed his lips, but nodded stiffly in agreement.

"The descent angle's too steep," Tali commented, peering at my screen. I began calculating all the possibilities in my head. It wasn't impossible, that was for sure.

And I'd always loved a challenge.

But… Was I really willing to risk Sabrina's life if I wasn't completely sure that we could do it?

"It's our only option." Liara snapped, and I began to shake my head. Why exactly were they bickering about this while Jeff and I were flying? Wasn't there like, a rule about not distracting pilots while they were flying or something? All of their yelling was making it harder for me to think and I needed to think.

Kaidan shook his head, completely against the idea. "It's not an option it's a suicide run, we don't-"

"We can do it." Jeff cut in, confidence practically dripping off of his words.

My eyes widened slightly. Was he insane?

"Joker?" Sabrina's brow crinkled and she glanced at me uncertainly. I gave her a stiff smile.

"If Jeff thinks we can do it…" I drawled, returning my gaze to my screen before Sabrina could spot my doubt.

"We can do it." Jeff repeated, staring at me with determination written all over his face.

With a nod Sabrina turned to face Wrex and Garrus. "Gear up and head down to the Mako," she ordered the two of them before spinning on her heel to grin at Jeff and I, clapping me on the shoulder. "Drop us right on top of that bastard you guys."

"You got it Sabs!" I called after her as she stormed through the CIC.

As soon as everyone was gone I glanced over at Jeff "So I was nice enough not to question you in front of everyone else, but are you insane?"

"Come on CP," he grinned at me, green eyes twinkling brightly. "We're the best damn pilots in the entire fleet. I'm not insane, because I know we can make that drop. We're a team, CP. So don't worry, because I know you can do this."

I stared back at him nervously, the pilot gazing back at me gently.

"Trust me, Kim. We can do this," he assured. "Together."

My eyes widened in surprise for a moment, head tilted slightly to the side in disbelief before I nodded; a soft smile appearing on my lips.

We could do it.

I trusted him.

"Okay, we're going to need to get in as close as possible," I began, bringing things up on my screen. "Considering how much Garrus worked on Sabrina-proofing the Mako, it better survive the drop."

"It will," Jeff stated firmly. "So we have twenty metres right?"

"Twenty meters. If we go too low we're going to crash into the cliffs here," I placed a marker on our map. "And here."

"Too high and Mako gets totalled," the pilot added. I frowned, doing the math in my head.

"I got it!" I announced with a clap. "Sarendipity-doo is going to be here, and this space is our twenty meters," I began drawing it all out with my finger on the screen. "See this area here?" Jeff nodded, intrigued. "If we drop the Mako from about two hundred and sixty meters from the ground, it should shoot them onto the open terrain over here! That'll give them twenty meters to stop once they hit the ground."

Moreau checked my math on his console, giving a nod of approval. "This should work. Good job CP."

"Don't praise me until after Sabs runs Saren over with a Mako," I scolded, a small smile appearing on my lips at the compliment. "Seriously, we haven't done anything yet."

"If the Mako lands on Saren, I'm paying for the drinks when this is over," Jeff decided, turning on his mic. "Hey Shepard, you guys in the Mako?"

"_Ready to go when you are!" _the commander answered, sounding surprisingly cheery. I activated my mic, needing to confirm my hunch.

"Are they letting you drive…?" I questioned her suspiciously. "Garrus, Wrex, are you letting her drive?!"

"_What can I say, it might be the last time this Mako hits the surface," _Garrus reasoned sheepishly. I could imagine him shrugging as he said that. _"Might as well let Shepard take the wheel."_

"_She's not that bad of a driver," _Wrex added. Jeff and I gave each other a look, and I couldn't even picture the look that Garrus was probably giving the krogan.

"_You're kidding, right?" _Garrus questioned disbelievingly.

"I hope he's kidding," I coughed. Sabrina huffed over the comm.

"_Thank you Wrex! You're the only one that believes in me," _the Spectre declared. _"Oh and Kimmy, I thought I'd let you know that my room is yours if this fails. We burned the bedsheets."_

I looked up, relieved, putting my hands together. "Thank you so much."

Jeff raised an eyebrow. "Why'd she need to do that?"

Sabrina cackled. _"Well Joker, you see me and Kai-"_

"Sabs!" I yelped. "I don't want to know! I don't want to know!" Childishly, I curled up in my seat, kicking my feet, clenching my eyes shut and covering my ears with my hands.

"She doesn't want to know, "Jeff repeated with a chuckle. "CP, snap out of it. We're almost at the drop zone."

I sat up straight and placed my hands on the aero-gel controls. It was time for me to be serious. "You ready Sabrina?" I inquired, voice calm. I was glad that I was able to at least hide how nervous I was over the comm.

Because honestly? I was worried. Even if my math was good, there were still a hundred things that could go wrong.

"_All set over here," _Sabrina confirmed.

I glanced over at Joker, who nodded at me. "Opening the cargo bay doors," I announced. "Garrus, Wrex, Sabs, you three better hold on tight," I suggested, hovering my hand over the Mako release button and keeping my eyes on the map.

"Release it in three… two…" Jeff counted down.

"One!" I hit my hand against the button, keeping my eyes glued to the screens, watching the green blip that signified the Mako go diagonally across at a rapid speed. When it hit the surface, and didn't go out, I jumped out of my seat and cheered loudly.

"We did it!" I exclaimed, clapping; Jeff throwing a fist in the air.

"Yes!" the pilot shouted, grinning over at me. I beamed back at him.

We were incredibly proud of ourselves.

We did it.


	19. Battle for the Citadel

_One more chapter to post after this! And then, I start posting Drops of Jupiter!_

_I'd like to give a shout out to Gizmo60 and the Guest reviewer for the last couple of chapters! Thanks so much for reviewing, and I'm super glad you like the story!_

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 19: Battle for the Citadel  
~*~

When the Mako disappeared from our sensors my immediate reaction was to try and call Sabrina. "Sabrina? Sabrina, do you copy?" checking my console, I was surprised to see that she just… wasn't in range.

So she wasn't dead, she just wasn't on Ilos anymore. And neither was our Mako, or Garrus and Wrex.

"Talk to me CP," Jeff called, green eyes scanning his screens. "Where's Shepard?"

"Tracking the Mako now," I answered calmly, tapping a few buttons on my console. She was at… the Citadel? "Well, that's weird."

Pausing momentarily, the pilot turned to me, head tilted to the side in slight confusion. "What's weird?"

"It says that she's on the Citadel. Saren and the Geth he was with, they aren't on Ilos anymore either…" I bit my thumb, thinking hard. "The Conduit… it must be like, some kind of mini-relay to the Citadel!"

"Shit," Jeff cursed. "That means Saren's on the Citadel. There's probably one hell of a battle going on."

"And if he had the element of surprise…" I cringed. "He probably took down a ton of systems on the Citadel already, maybe even cut the communications to throw them into chaos so they can't fight back as quickly. Would at least explain why Sabrina can't call us from there."

"We need to get to the Citadel," Joker declared.

"Okay, get us to the Andura sector as fast as you can," I ordered, standing up from my seat, adrenaline pumping through my veins. "Patch me through to Admiral Hackett, I'm going to the conference room. Since Saren's attacking the Citadel with an army of Geth and Krogan, we're going to need as much help as we can get."

"What are you now, replacement Shepard?" Jeff called after me. I turned around to flip him off.

"I'm Flight Officer Kimberly Anne Kogan you loser!" I shouted back at him, dashing through the CIC. Some crewmembers and Pressly stared at me, flabbergasted as I ran by them. "Sabrina's at the Citadel with Saren and the Citadel's under attack!" I explained hurriedly to them, turning the corner that led to the Conference room and crashed into Kaidan. The two of us tumbled to the hard floor, the two of us groaning in pain before the older man helped me up.

"What's going on?" he questioned me, I stared back at him with determination written all over my face as I explained. Sabrina was on the Citadel, so was Saren. Geth and a Reaper were attacking the Citadel, we needed to get help. Kaidan nodded understanding. "Okay, Joker's patching you through to Admiral Hackett?" I nodded. "Let's go then."

The two of us entered the conference room, Hackett's hologram standing in front of us. We saluted, serious expressions on our faces.

Hacket stood straight, hands behind his back. He gave us a stern look. "Lieutenant Alenko, Officer Kogan," he greeted, looking a bit displeased. "Where's Commander Shepard? We received word that she and the rest of the Normandy's crew committed the crime of mutiny."

I gave Kaidan a look, the biotic giving me a nod. I stepped forward. "Commander Shepard's on the Citadel right now," I explained. "Saren's attacking it. We stole the Normandy to try and stop Saren, but we were too late. And we need help to stop them from attacking or the galaxy is going to be destroyed by a sentient machine race called the Reapers," I stated bluntly. My words caused Hackett to frown.

Yeah, I sounded like a crazy person.

"No offense Officer Kogan, but that seems a little far-fetched," the Admiral replied. Kaidan took a step forward.

"Ask anyone on this ship, and they'll give you the same story," Alenko spoke firmly. "Commander Shepard did what she knew to be the right thing to do. If you don't believe us, try contacting the Citadel. All communications are down."

Hackett turned away from us. "You, try and hail Citadel Control," he ordered someone we couldn't see. Kaidan and I stood, stiffly, waiting for him to confirm what we already knew. A few moments later, he turned to face us, frowning. "Well, my apologies. We've confirmed a distress signal from the Citadel, and all communications to them are cut."

I glanced at Kaidan, smiling, before returning my gaze to Hackett. "The Citadel's forces are in disarray right now. We're going to need as many ships as possible if we're going to have a shot at stopping them."

"Agreed," Hackett nodded. "Where's the Normandy heading?"

"We're heading to the Andura sector now," I told him.

"I'll send the whole Arcturus fleet there as well. We'll strike on your signal, Normandy," the Admiral stated, saluting. His hologram disappeared, and I let out a relieved breath, pulling Kaidan into a hug.

"I'm surprised that didn't take longer," I admitted, releasing him. Kaidan let out a laugh.

"Just be glad that they listened," the biotic smiled. "You should head back to the cockpit, I'll make sure the crew is ready."

I nodded, exiting the conference room and returning to the bridge. Jeff raised a hand in greeting. "Hackett's sending us the whole Arcturus Fleet as backup," I took my seat, activating my console. "Kaidan's getting everyone ready. How are we doing?"

"Going as fast as we can," he answered. "ETA's a little less than an hour. We're really pushing the Normandy now."

"Think we're going to make it in time?" I asked him.

"We have to."

The two of us worked in silence for most of the flight, and I calibrated the ships weapons to prepare for the upcoming battle. Arriving in the Andura sector, I stared in awe at the sheer amount of ships there to help save the Citadel.

"Transmission coming in from Admiral Hackett," Jeff noted. "Patching him through to your earpiece."

"Got it," I approved. "Admiral Hackett? This is Officer Kogan on the SSV Normandy," I greeted.

_"Officer Kogan, the relay to the Citadel's locked down, we can't go through,"_ Hackett notified.

Damn it, they just weren't making this easy for us.

"Thanks for letting us know, we'll try and contact Shepard now," I answered after a moment, shaking my head.

_"Good luck Normandy, Hackett out."_

I turned to Jeff. "Can you open up a communications channel? We need to try and get a hold of Sabrina. Or really, just anyone that can unlock the relay."

The pilot nodded, hands dancing across his controls. "We're close enough to the Citadel now that we should be able to pick up their distress signals." The moment he opened our communications; panicked voices blared through our earpieces.

_"This is the Destiny Ascension. Main drives offline, kinetic barriers down forty percent. The Council is on board, I repeat, the Council is on board," _a female voice cried before cutting out.

"Fuck," I cursed. "That's not good."

"Opening a channel now," Jeff called. I nodded. "Normandy to the Citadel. Normandy to the Citadel," he repeated. A notification appeared on our screens, letting us know that someone had joined the channel. "Please tell me that's you, Commander," Jeff requested over the comm, Sabrina answering quickly.

"_I'm here Joker. Are the rest of you ok?"_

I let out a breath of relief. Sabrina was okay.

Jeff gave me a thumbs up and a smile as he replied to the commander. "We're fine. We caught that distress call, Commander. We're sitting here in the Andura sector with the entire Arcturus fleet," Jeff told Sabrina seriously.

"We can save the Ascension Sabrina," I added. "You just have to unlock the relays around the Citadel and we're in."

The comm channel went silent for a moment. Jeff glanced at me, uncertain.

"What's the order, Commander?" the pilot inquired. "Come in now to save the Ascension or hold back?"

"_Opening the relays now. We need to save the Ascension… No matter what the cost," _Sabrina stated firmly.

We relayed the order to Admiral Hackett, and instantly blasted through the relay at FTL speeds.

It was the first time I'd kept my eyes open during FTL, and it was beautiful. The stars zooming by so fast that they turned into lines of light… like we were racing against them, and the falling feeling I normally got felt more like I was floating.

Then we were through.

Geth ships were shooting at the Destiny Ascension. Jeff had been right when he said that its size didn't matter… the Geth were tearing it apart. All the firepower in the world didn't matter if it couldn't avoid enemy attacks.

"You focus on the fancy flying; I'll blast these things to hell!" I told Jeff confidently, locking onto geth ships and firing. Jeff nodded at me, and flew strategically to allow me the best shots possible until the Destiny Ascension was safe.

"Destiny Ascension, you are all clear. Repeat – You are all clear." Jeff called over the comm, the two of us grinned at each other, ecstatic.

Hackett's voice rang through the Normandy's PA. All of our ships communications were linked now. "_The Citadel's opening! All ships move in! Concentrate on Sovereign!" _

"Ready for this Jeff?" I asked the pilot, readying the Normandy's weapons. Through the windows I could see the Reaper, monstrous in size and creepy looking like a lobster.

"You know it CP," he replied.

Every ship in the fleet began to fire at Sovereign, and I gaped in shock as it released a beam that tore some of our ships in half "Jeff, stay away from the beams!"

"Got it!"

_Sovereign's too strong!" _another ship's commander shouted. "We have to pull back!"

From the corner of my eye I could see Jeff scowl at the coward's words. If we pulled back, we were screwed. Before I could sass anyone however, Hackett replied. _"Negative," _he denied darkly. _"This is our only chance, take that monster down no matter what the cost."_

Eventually the Reaper began to release red sparks, and a flash of realization went through my mind. "It's shields are down! Now's our chance!" I exclaimed. "What's the order, Hackett?"

"_Hit it with everything we've got!" _Hackett commanded.

"Hard on my flank, we're going in!" Jeff shouted, turning the Normandy around and flying straight at the Reaper.

A million thoughts went through my head. Everything that had happened was because of this thing. Not Saren. This monster had brainwashed people, it was worshipped by the Geth.

If it wasn't for Sovereign, maybe Ashley wouldn't have died on Virmire. We wouldn't have even gone there. She would still be alive, her sisters wouldn't have lost her.

I wouldn't have lost her.

"This is for Ashley you son of a bitch," I growled, slamming my fist against the missile release.

Sovereign fell, a huge explosion of red and metal flying around. We'd won, Jeff and me cheering with the rest of the crew. Kaidan, Tali, and Liara ran into the cockpit, and I stood up to tackle Tali with a hug. Kaidan placed a hand on my head, the asari patting me on the back. Looking over at Jeff, I could see the proud look in his eyes, a gentle smile on his face.

"Let's dock and get the rest of our crew," I beamed.

We'd _won_.


	20. Epilogue

~*~  
Across the Universe  
Chapter 20: Epilogue  
~*~

Really, I'd been hoping that we wouldn't have to go through an awards ceremony. But, well… apparently it had to happen. Politicians, Military, families, and the Council all came for the event.

The Council had allowed humanity into their ranks thanks to all of our efforts, and Sabrina was very blunt about wanting Anderson to take the Council position. That decision left me pleased; I'd never really liked Udina and he didn't really like me… especially after the whole 'stealing the Normandy' thing.

But hey, the asshole screwed us over. Made sense that Sabrina would keep his greedy hands away from a Council seat.

One of the sadder things that happened was meeting Ashley's family at the event hall. Her sisters and her mom. The exchange between us was uncomfortable at first. Her youngest sister, Sarah, was almost the splitting image of the dead soldier if only a little younger. I couldn't look them in the eyes when I apologized for Ashley's death… Then they pulled me into a hug and thanked me before Hackett called for me and the rest of the crew.

Joker and I sat next to each other onstage, taking turns dozing off while various politicians and military made speeches for what felt like hours (and actually, it probably did take hours). Lucky for Jeff, no one made him shave his beard. Sabrina nudged me in the side when my name was called, causing a few of our companions to snicker at me. I childishly stuck my tongue out at them, Jeff ruffling my hair when we stepped forward together for our medals. We were asked to prepare a speeches as well. Jeff said one about the ships that had gone down when we saved the Destiny Ascension, and I spoke about the death of Ashley. Once we were done, gold medals were clipped onto our uniforms.

After the ceremony Hackett stopped me, pulling me aside with Anderson standing not too far behind him. "Officer Kogan, I'd like to offer you a chance to be transferred to another ship in the Alliance… as a pilot," the older man offered me with a confident smile. "You've shown remarkable ability on the Normandy and we don't want to see your talents go to waste."

"I'll have to think about it," I blurted hastily, giving them a small bow.

Anderson let out a chuckle. "Relax Kim," he told me, causing me to stand up straight in response.

Hackett clapped me on the shoulder. "Damian would be proud of you no matter what you decide, you know. Just let me know when you've made your choice."

Practically everyone on the Normandy had been given a medal, including Garrus, Tali, Wrex, and Liara. It made me happy that they were all still with us for now, although most of them weren't going to stay with us for long. Tali was going to return to her people. Sabrina and I had decided to take her back to the fleet ourselves before the Council sent us on our next mission. She'd been very happy with our offer, and I made her promise to watch Fleet and Flotilla with me before she left. The quarian readily agreed, and I continued to innocently crush on her. Garrus was going to return to C-sec and apply for Spectre training. However, he promised we'd stay in contact and give each other updates on whatever was going on. Wrex was going to go back to mercenary life, but agreed to keep in contact with us. After all, maybe one day he would join up with us again. Liara was the only one of the aliens Sabrina picked up that was going to stay with us on the Normandy… And I knew why. She still had feelings for Sabrina, which made me a bit disappointed. I knew that they'd never be reciprocated, and that Liara was just in denial.

That was going to hurt her a lot in the end.

When I'd finally found Sabrina… who was with Kaidan at the time, the Spectre pulled me into a tight hug with a cheerful grin on her face "Anderson told me that you'd been offered your own ship to fly! Congratulations! Are you going to accept?"

I shuffled my feet, shrugging at her. "I don't know" I told them honestly. It really was a big decision, and it kind of got thrown at me fast. I was going to think this through. Kaidan gave me an amused look as he crossed his arms.

"You don't know?" he shook his head in disbelief. "You're a great pilot Kim. You've demonstrated it a multitude of times." Kaidan complimented me with a smile "You should accept the offer. It's a great opportunity."

Smiling back at him I nodded my thanks. Now I knew what Kaidan thought, and getting opinions might help me make my choice. "I'll still need to think about it. I have some time," I explained.

Sabrina nodded at me understandingly and held me by my shoulders, looking me in the eye. "Well whatever you choose, I'm proud of you Keys."

I threw myself into another hug. "I love you Sabs. Do you know where any of the others are?"

With a cheery laugh Sabrina directed me to where Garrus, Tali, and Wrex were and I walked over to talk to them. Garrus was the first to notice me, waving a talon in the air at my approach. "Kim, good to see you," he greeted with a nod.

Tali waved at me also with a friendly smile in her voice "Kim! Good job out there, Joker was just here. He was telling us about when you took the final shot at the Reaper."

Wrex gave me a toothy grin. "That must have been fun."

"It sure was!" I confirmed, grinning at them confidently. "How was taking down Saren?" I questioned the male aliens, as they were the ones Sabrina had dragged with her to take down the rogue Spectre. At my inquiry their moods noticeably darkened. Tali turned her head to the side and I awkwardly spoke up. "I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?"

"Let's just say it wasn't as fulfilling as I thought it would be." Garrus told me "He wasn't entirely himself this whole time, so…"

Wrex shrugged. "It was like killing anyone."

Tali tapped my arm and I looked over at her "Shepard told me that Hackett offered you a promotion. Congratulations! You deserve it."

At that, Garrus and Wrex offered their congratulations and I quickly shook my head. "How does news even travel this fast? Look, I don't even know if I'll accept it or not. I know it's a great offer and everything but I'm used to co-piloting, you know?"

Garrus nodded at me understandingly "I get that. Shepard taught me not to do something unless I was completely sure that it was the right choice, so you shouldn't just jump into anything when you're not sure that you want."

"Take the job," Wrex told me, crossing his arms and giving Garrus a glare. "How is she going to get better if she stays a co-pilot the rest of her life?"

"Whoa guys," I cut in, stopping the two of them before an argument over what I should do could take place. "I'll consider your words, but Tali's is the opinion I will consider the most."

All three of us cast our eyes onto the quarian, who raised her hands in defense. "I-I think you should do what you think is right," Tali stuttered. I tackled her for a hug, Garrus smiling a toothy turian smile at the two of us while Wrex shook his head and chuckled.

"So the vote's three to two! Three points for following my heart, and 2 points for me to take the job!" I announced, releasing Tali who I could feel was smiling at me fondly while I looked up in thought. "So far, no one's told me to stick with co-piloting. Maybe it's a sign. Maybe I'm just destined for greater things," I shrugged.

The four of us chatted for a short while longer before I went to talk with Liara. I didn't ask her for her opinion on things, mostly we just made small talk before I found it too awkward and made a lame excuse to escape.

Then I spotted Joker leaning against a wall, and went to join him.

"I ran into Ashley's family earlier." Jeff told me, "Heard she might be getting decorated with salarian and turian medals. Imagine that, huh?"

"Yeah…" I smiled weakly "I think she'd be happy. I know that at first she found it kind of awkward with all the aliens onboard, but she really grew to like them."

We stayed silent for a moment before Jeff spoke up.

"Shame that Tali, Wrex and Garrus aren't staying with us." Jeff sighed "I like Tali. Wrex is okay too I guess. Garrus… Well, he still kind of has that pole up his ass," he shrugged.

I rolled my eyes at him, leaning against the wall next to the pilot and shoving him lightly. "Come on Jeff, Garrus is cool. He actually joined us for karaoke remember?

Chuckling at the memory, Jeff shot me a small smile, laugh faltering. "So I heard that you got an offer to fly your own ship," he commented nonchalantly.

"Seriously, I don't understand how this news travels so fast," I exclaimed. "I'm thinking about it, okay?"

The pilot nodded and changed the subject. "You know, originally my speech was going to be about us," Joker told me sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "But Anderson told me that it had to be more about heroic stuff, you know?"

I froze at his confession for a moment before poking him in the side with a grin. "I want to hear it, tell!"

Joker laughed, shoving me back. "Okay, okay. I was going to open with something like… The first time Officer Kogan here walked onto the bridge, I was wondering how a teenager got onto the ship. And then she told me she was my co-pilot."

I snorted, rolling my eyes. "So funny Jeff. Hilarious."

He grinned at me cheekily. "Right? And then I was going to talk about how you started to grow on me and the rest of the crew, and how you kind of helped remind me how to have fun. Oh, and how determined you were to be friends with me."

"Aww," I gushed. "How sweet."

"Come on CP, let me finish," Jeff groaned. "All this sentimental crap is making me embarrassed."

I tried to keep myself from grinning. "Fine, fine, I'll wait until after you're done to make fun of you."

"Oh, thanks so much," he sassed. Jeff averted his gaze to the ceiling. "And if you hadn't yelled at me to shut up by that point, I would have talked about how you helped the rest of us see Shepard as more than just a commander, how you helped bring some us together… You know, with your post-getting shot in the knees cooking and just you… being you," he stumbled over his words closer to the end, and I placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Starting to make things up now Jeff?" I teased lightly. He gave me a sad smile and shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, figured you'd notice that," he sighed, running a hand through his hair with a bit of frustration. "Guess I'm just thinking about things and realized how much I'm going to miss you when you go."

"We are best friends," I offered softly.

Jeff nodded. "We are best friends," he agreed, a tinge of sadness in his voice.

I felt a stab in my heart, and pushed myself off the wall. "I'm going to go talk to Hackett," I told him, pointing towards the crowd of people.

Jeff nodded, and didn't speak as I left. It didn't take me too long to find Hackett, he was standing with Anderson by the stage.

I knew what I was doing.

"Admiral Hackett!" I blurted, clumsily saluting. He and Anderson smiled at me, amused. "Oh, and Captain Anderson! Hi!"

"Yes Officer Kogan?" Anderson chuckled. I lowered my hand and looked at Hackett, my posture stiff as I prepared myself to speak.

"Um, Admiral Hackett, sir," I started awkwardly. "I've decided to stay on the Normandy."

Hackett nodded, completely understanding. "Just know that if you ever change your mind, the offer's always there."

"Thank you," I replied, feeling like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. "That's all I wanted to say."

Anderson stopped me from leaving, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Kim, can I ask why you're staying on the Normandy?"

I looked him in the eyes. "We made progress," I explained confidently.

My ex-captain's eyes softened, and he nodded. "I'm glad."

"Me too," I laughed lightly, rubbing the back of my head. They dismissed me and I quickly left, wanting to let Jeff know as soon as possible. He wasn't by the wall anymore, and I scanned the crowds to see if he was talking to anyone. Garrus and Tali were standing with Sabrina now, and I could see Wrex and Kaidan too. I turned around and crashed into Ashley-

My heart throbbed painfully.

No, it wasn't Ash. It was her sister, Sarah.

She smiled at me, shy. "You, um, thank you so much for talking about Ashley in your speech," she thanked me. I nodded, my eyes wide. "The guy you were talking with before, the pilot I think? I saw him heading towards the balcony," she told me helpfully. "I-if that's who you were looking for," the girl stuttered.

I gave her a quick hug. "Thank you," I told her softly, giving her a huge grin before running off to catch up with Jeff. Pushing through the doors, I was hit by a blast of cool night air, and could see the stars sparkling overhead. Joker was sitting on a bench in the center of the balcony, and I approached him.

"This seat taken?" I asked him with a smile, pointing at the other side of the bench.

"Done working out the new ship details already-?" Jeff began.

"I didn't accept the offer." I cut him off quickly, sitting down. "I was considering it. But hey, I need to make sure Sabrina's safe. She's the only family I have left." I explained hurriedly. A light blush dusted my cheeks and I averted my gaze. "…And, we're a team," I added softly. "Plus, I highly doubt any other flight officer would be able to deal with you," I stated firmly.

Jeff froze, eyes widening. He adjusted his hat and looked away from me, trying to hide a smile. "So I guess I'll be seeing you on the Normandy then, CP. Just… Let's aim for less deadly situations when we're flying."

Closing my eyes, I smiled and nodded in agreement. "Sure thing Flight Lieutenant."

I loved this job.


End file.
